The production activities carried out by RFI that have potential impact on local communities are as follows:

• construction of new infrastructure
• maintenance and operation of the existing infrastructure.

For the construction of new infrastructure, RFI, in its capacity as the party responsible for submitting projects to the assessment and authorisation procedures provided for by the regulations, tackles all possible areas of impact on the environment and the territory from the very first study and design phases (carried out on its own or through the technical entity Italferr or other third party companies specifically appointed for this purpose). It also identifies the most suitable technical and design solutions, from establishing the routes, the types of works with the least impact, the necessary mitigation works - in relation to the natural, anthropic, historical and archaeological characteristics of the areas to be crossed and according to the type of traffic to be served (goods, passengers, LPT, long haul) as well as the type and duration of the activities and site settlements.

Once the projects for the new works have been examined and approved by the relevant institutions and local authorities, they are implemented and enter the construction phase. In its role as client, RFI entrusts the works to third party companies, including through Italferr, when it is assigned the role of technical body as well as, as the case may be, project management and supervision, with the task, among other things - also in relation to the contract adopted with the construction companies and the commitments assumed with the institutions in the authorisation phase - of directly carrying out the environmental monitoring activities before, during and after the works to identify the appropriate corrective measures in the event of critical issues.

Depending on the characteristics of the areas affected by the new works and the related construction sites, the main potential impacts and the related minimisation measures - and where possible restoration and enhancement measures - may cover the following aspects:

• land consumption > primarily limited by the planning decision to build the new infrastructure within existing infrastructure corridors and/or to provide for types of works with less impact
• excavated soil > in some cases reused for the construction of other railway works or for environmental works in the areas affected by the works
• biodiversity > creation of "corridors" to ensure territorial continuity while keeping any changes the living environment of local flora and fauna to a minimum
• contaminated interfering areas (former industrial sites, inactive landfills) > remediation works
• network services (water, roads, electricity, etc.) > the impact is primarily limited by the choice of types of works that minimise interference (flyovers, bridges, etc.) or managed in agreement with the relevant network operators
• noise and vibrations produced during construction and operation of the new infrastructure > noise barriers, dunes, tree fences, increased ballast thickness, soundproofing mats
• construction site dust > limitation of emissions, e.g. by asphalting yards, creating green barriers, etc
• hydro-geological network > the impact is primarily limited by the choice of types of works and working methods that minimise interference and is in any event managed through intervention such as improving banks/canals or watercourses, preserving groundwater by adopting specific excavating codes, the creation of alternative wells and aqueducts
• historical and archaeological heritage > the impact is primarily limited by the planning decision to build the new infrastructure minimising interference with existing buildings and is in any event managed by adopting safeguarding and enhancement measures, including creating museum-type displays, carrying out specific excavations for scientific purposes, etc.
• electromagnetic fields generated from the power supply system > design requirements in order to reduce electromagnetic fields
• urban, road and natural planning > in some cases, the new infrastructure is designed to allow the reorganisation of the area crossed in a way that improves the existing one (e.g. urban redevelopment, environmental improvement of degraded areas, renaturalisation of embankments, creation of green areas, park areas, reorganisation of the road network including by means of alternative roads created to mitigate the impact of heavy traffic created by the worksite vehicles, etc.); the existing structure, when altered by the worksite, is restored at the end of the works.
   

The most significant potential impacts of infrastructure maintenance and railway operations and the measures to mitigate them are:

• waste from ordinary and extraordinary maintenance activities, mainly consisting of non-hazardous waste (in particular steel, cement and copper), almost all of which is sent for recovery. Hazardous waste mainly consists of wooden beams filled with creosote oil, almost all of which are sent for energy or material recovery, and the remainder of batteries and accumulators, used oils, solvents and paints, and construction materials containing asbestos and/or other hazardous substances. > The waste, collected in temporary storage sites at the individual plants, divided into the various types of CER codes and separating non-hazardous from hazardous, is delivered to parties authorised to treat it, in accordance with the provisions of waste legislation, giving priority to activities that guarantee its recovery. For this purpose, national or compartmental contractual instruments are also planned according to the type of waste.                                                              
  

• Noise related to train movements and maintenance activities > for the containment of noise of the first type see G4-SO02.0200; for the containment of noise from maintenance activities, measures are implemented, including organisational and communication measures (organisation of work, information to local communities about the work being carried out and its duration) aimed at minimising the discomfort deriving from this type of work.
• Control of the vegetation growing between the rails and on the tracks, in the station yards and in adjacent areas, the proliferation of which can conceal signals, hinder maintenance work and increase the risk of fire > RFI has for some time now been issuing directives for the use of more environmentally friendly products for weeding operations by contractors. In areas that are particularly sensitive from an environmental point of view (e.g. buffer zones for wells and springs, nature reserves), mechanical weeding is used instead of chemical weeding. Furthermore, in recent years, the substances used in chemical weeding operations have been completely replaced with others that have less impact on the environment and human health. More specifically, RFI has decided to ban the use of herbicides classified as harmful, toxic and very toxic, favouring the use of those with no hazardous classification. Since 2015, in its tender specifications it has also adopted the new criteria set out in the "National Action Plan for the Sustainable Use of Plant Protection Products" (PAN) in implementation of Directive 2009/128/EC and Legislative Decree no. 150/2012 and the criteria set out in the Ministerial Decree of 15 February 2017 "Adoption of minimum environmental criteria (CAM) to be compulsorily included in the technical specifications of tenders for the execution of plant protection treatments on or along railway lines and on or along roads".
• Affected contaminated areas (former industrial sites) > as for new infrastructure, whenever railway areas are affected by pollution caused to the soil and groundwater by the pre-existence of industrial sites, RFI carries out decontamination work, the costs of which are mostly borne directly by RFI, in accordance with the procedure set out in the relevant legislation. Some of the polluted sites on which it takes action are from those defined as "of national interest", whose decontamination programmes are directed and coordinated by the Ministry of the Environment.
• Electromagnetic fields generated by power lines (power lines, substations and transformer rooms); contact lines for electric traction (3 kV direct current for conventional lines and 25 kV alternating current for high-speed lines outside urban nodes); telecommunications and radio transmission systems (VHF, UHF, GSM) > Compliance with regulations is verified/guaranteed by measurements taken and the relevant literature.
• Atmospheric emissions, deriving mainly from thermal heating and air-conditioning systems in workplaces and passenger buildings in stations, since the activities carried out in other plants, by their nature, are not such as to produce continuous and significant emissions. Other sources of atmospheric emissions are RFI work vehicles (ladder trucks, works trucks, tamping machines, profiling machines, shunting locomotives) and service cars > although RFI's direct contribution to the production of greenhouse gases is not very significant (the impact of the railway sector is mainly linked to the activities of transport companies), measures have been taken to reduce these emissions, such as the improvement of energy efficiency mainly through the replacement of service vehicles from petrol to diesel, the disposal of diesel thermal power stations in favour of methane thermal power stations, the construction at some photovoltaic plant sites, including stations, the most important of which is at Turin Porta Susa station. As regards the use and possession of atmospheric ozone-depleting substances, RFI has financed, launched and concluded the process for the complete dismantling of halons in all equipment and fire-fighting systems, even earlier than required by law. With regard to CFCs and HCFCs, RFI has launched a programme to survey and gradually replace these substances with others that are more environmentally sound, as provided for in Community regulations. In addition to these, there is also the impact generated by the use of gases that interact with the ozone layer and can cause a greenhouse effect. However, in this case, this is limited to air conditioning systems, mostly of the split type.