Rome, 5 March 2018
An agreement has been signed between Italian Railways and Turkish Railways (TCDD) to provide specialised training to railway line maintenance personnel. FS Italiane's technical engineering know-how will be shared through two training courses designed for the needs of TCDD.
The contract was signed during a joint working group in Rome pursuant to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in 2017 to identify areas for mutual collaboration.
The development of further opportunities for technical cooperation, both for railway safety and the feasibility of engineering projects, implemented on an ad hoc basis for TCDD, was one of the themes addressed during the course of the works. The possibility of providing specialised consulting for the development of a laboratory for testing a railway's rolling stock was also assessed.
During the meeting, Italferr (FS Italiane’s engineering company) took stock of the Istanbul-Thessaloniki railway corridor upgrade. A further training course is also under consideration for TCDD engineers, in partnership with the La Sapienza University of Rome, in railway engineering (Dedicated Post-Bachelor Training Program, Master's Degree, Post-Master's Specialist Course).
Thus, the ten-year cooperation between FS Italiane and TCDD is strengthened. Over the years, the Group has provided consulting services to TCDD through RFI, Trenitalia and Italferr. In May 2017, a wide-ranging MoU with TCDD was signed, launching joint working groups which have achieved the first objective of providing specialised technical know-how.
In 2017, Italferr completed a feasibility study and the preliminary and final designs (worth over €1 million) for a railway connection between the Esenboga airport and Ankara (about 27 kilometers). In December 2016, Italferr also completed the supervision of the Eurasia tunnel project (8.4 km), a highway under the Bosphorus designed to connect the Asian and European sides of the city, which ended 8 months earlier than scheduled. In November 2017, TCDD approved the extension of the contract to January 2021 to manage the tunnel's operation phase. Italcertifer has also consolidated its presence in the country, certifying numerous AV and conventional lines.