FS completes 1,400 kilometers of ERTMS-equipped railway network

Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI), a subsidiary of the FS Group, has completed the installation of the advanced European Rail Transport Management System (ERTMS) across 1,400 kilometers of network, thus achieving, as planned, the medium-term goal set by the PNRR for the development of the European rail transport management system. The project is financed with €2.5 billion from PNRR funds and will involve a total of approximately 2,800 kilometers of network, to be completed by June 2026, in line with the strategic objective of extending ERTMS technology, already adopted on high-speed lines, to the entire network managed by RFI.

RFI explains in a statement: "The recently completed technological upgrades represent a tangible example of the benefits resulting from the 1,200 construction sites active every day and the growing number of interruptions in recent years, which have increased from 160,000 in 2023 to an expected 345,000 in 2025, most of which occurred during periods of lower influx of workers and student commuters."

The work, carried out by Hitachi, Alstom, Mermec, and Progress Rail, involved a total of approximately 2,000 workers, including technicians from the FS Italiane group, operating companies RFI and Italferr, and contractors. Twenty-one lines or sections of lines benefited from the ERTMS upgrade, covering a total of 1,489 kilometers: in the North, Domodossola-Arona, Gallarate-Rho, Merano-Bolzano, and Rovigo-Chioggia; in the Center, the Florence-Rome Direttissima, Viareggio-Arcola Bivio, Grosseto-Civitavecchia, Civitanova Marche-Albacina, Terni-Sulmona, Campoleone-Nettuno, Ciampino-Frascati/Albano, and Roccasecca-Avezzano; in the South, the Rome-Naples High Speed line (ERTMS technological upgrade in operation), Lamezia Terme Centrale-Catanzaro Lido, and Catanzaro Lido-Sibari; in the Islands Cagliari-Oristano, Oristano-Chilivani, Chilivani-Olbia-Golfo Aranci, Syracuse-Canicattì, Caltanissetta Xirbi–Aragona Caldare-Lercara, Alcamo-Trapani via Castelvetrano.