Fiumicino, 17 March 2022
Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, with Chief Executive Officer Luigi Ferraris, and Aeroporti di Roma, with Chief Executive Officer Marco Troncone, have signed an Agreement to develop sustainable intermodality and integration between rail and air. The presentation of the Agreement, taking place at Fiumicino’s Leonardo da Vinci airport, was attended by Fiumicino Mayor Esterino Montino, Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri, ENAC President Pierluigi Di Palma and Lazio Region President Nicola Zingaretti.
The Agreement, aimed to encourage the transition to smart hub status of the airports managed by AdR, seeks to enhance direct High Speed connection services between Fiumicino airport and the South of Italy and accelerate current services with the North (Florence/Bologna/Pisa). In particular, there is the will to develop integrated train+air products, through the implementation of commercial agreements with airlines in Fiumicino to integrate the reciprocal sales and distribution systems with the possibility of offering passenger and baggage check-in directly at the main railway stations connected to Leonardo da Vinci. In other words, passengers can board the train in stations such as Florence, Bologna or Naples and get off directly at their destination – even abroad – in a simple, safe, fast and comfortable way. Not least amongst the set objectives is the improvement and development of passenger information on flights and train travel, on the trains, in the stations and in the airport terminals. The station thus becomes a real extension of the airport terminal.
In this context, in addition to expanding connections and enhancing the flow of information, the project includes the infrastructural development of the Fiumicino Aeroporto station, where an increase from the current three tracks to a total of five is planned. The development of road transport is also envisaged, with investments and projects for traffic mobility. Further improvements and developments planned for the line concern the construction of the FL1 and FL5 connections via San Pietro and with Civitavecchia, along with the quadrupling of the Ponte Galeria-Fiumicino Airport line. For the direct High Speed connection, the project foresees the closure of Rome’s railway loop and infrastructural bypasses for direct trains to Fiumicino – without stopping at Roma Termini.
The Agreement also includes, within the context of Urban Air Mobility, the design and construction of a vertiport on the car park of Rome’s Termini Station, and the identification of further suitable spaces for the future expansion of this network. Indeed, AdR is actively working in this field in order to launch the first commercial operations between Fiumicino Airport and the metropolitan city of Rome in 2024.
“The agreement with FS Italiane is a strategic one,” said Marco Troncone, CEO of Aeroporti di Roma, “not only for AdR but for the country’s integrated mobility sector, fully in line with the policies indicated by our Government. Through the launch of a real intermodal train-to-air offer, which enhances Fiumicino’s role as a smart hub, it maps out and anticipates a new form of mobility in the name of sustainability, along with the multiplication of connectivity opportunities for travellers. And by enhancing accessibility to the airport, it renders Fiumicino extra ready for the resumption of tourism and, more generally, for a future of growth, right from the upcoming events through to the 2025 Jubilee.”
“Rail and air transport,” shared Luigi Ferraris, CEO of the Italian FS Group, “must cooperate in a context of integrated and sustainable mobility, through strategic partnerships aimed at creating a convergence of objectives, generating benefits for both sectors and for the mobility system in general. The Agreement with Aeroporti di Roma heads in this direction and demonstrates the commitment of the Italian FS Group to facilitating connections between the country’s main gateways, such as the stations, airports and ports. We are working on building new rail infrastructures, upgrading the existing ones and with them, the services offered. Rapid action is needed to render the entire country more competitive and attractive by providing Italy with a sustainable, multimodal, efficient and interconnected transport system, both for people and for freight.”
The President of ENAC, Pierluigi Di Palma, underlined, “Strategic and sustainable intermodality – this is the objective that the country must aim towards in order to be competitive at an international level, starting with Italy’s most important gateway, the Roma Fiumicino Airport. In order to do so, the sector needs to restart as soon as possible, without any hesitation. In order to meet the needs of one of the sectors hardest hit by the crisis, ENAC has overcome bureaucratic obstacles and already advanced airport management companies an initial instalment of 300 million euro, equal to 50% of the compensation requests made for damages caused by the Covid-19 health emergency. Of this, about 110 million have been earmarked for Aeroporti di Roma, to favour the restart. The AdR–FS agreement is indispensable for enhancing integration between train and air. Yet, sustainable intermodality is equally crucial for promoting advanced air mobility, which will allow – amongst other things – air taxi flights between Fiumicino Airport and the city centre as of 2024. ENAC, together with the entire social and industrial fabric of our country, is ready for the new integrated mobility – the future is here.”
What we are presenting today is an ambitious project,” commented the Mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, “which is part of the broader process of developing increasingly modern and sustainable mobility in Rome. I would thus like to thank Ferrovie dello Stato and Aeroporti di Roma for this protocol, which will enable us to consolidate transversal sectors and skills – from mobility to tourism and services for citizens – in the wake of two major strategic axes: intermodality and accessibility. Fiumicino Airport, a transport hub of fundamental importance for the entire country, will benefit from new infrastructures, more direct connection services and greater integration between rail and air. It is a forward-looking strategic choice that gives us a clear view of the face that logistics and transport will adopt in the coming years. As the Capitoline Administration, we are committed to promoting interconnection and sustainable mobility in all its forms, exploiting the great potential that comes from Italy’s Recovery and Resilience Plan, in the name of innovation and digital. Today’s agreement allows us to act in synergy, in order to better seize opportunities of extraordinary importance, such as the 2025 Jubilee and the challenge of Expo 2030.”
“With the Agreement signed today,” commented the President of the Lazio Region, Nicola Zingaretti, “we are taking a further leap forward in strengthening rail connections and enhancing Fiumicino Airport, Italy’s most important gateway to the world. In great harmony with Ferrovie dello Stato and Aeroporti di Roma, we have been working on these objectives for 9 years now. The project we are launching today represents a truly important new challenge, crucial in a phase such as that which we are currently experiencing. Today, better connecting the country is essential for creating new development and new jobs whilst increasing people’s well-being. The Recovery and Resilience Plan will give a great boost to these objectives and the Lazio Region will continue, as it has done in recent years, to invest in this priority mission. Fiumicino is a central transport hub for the entire country and will be even more so in the coming years, with the major international events that will see Rome and Lazio as protagonists, starting with the Jubilee in 2025. Together with FS and AdR, we are putting to paper a strategic plan to ensure that we are ready for the major challenges of the coming years.”
As Italy’s leading airport hub and the best in Europe over the last three years, AdR has chosen to focus on digitalisation, safety, innovation and environmental sustainability. It has long set out on a path to zero CO2 emissions by 2030, ahead of the targets set by the European airport sector, as well as having been Carbon Neutral for ten years, confirming its determination on the sustainability front and, in particular, in the fight against climate change.
The FS Italiane Group is at the centre of the country’s mobility system, playing a key role in Italy’s relaunch and development with a view to integrating different modes of transport in the pursuit of sustainability. The Ferrovie has always been at the forefront of the Italy’s modernisation process and is even more so today: over 24 billion euro has already been allocated to FS by the PNRR (Italy’s Recovery and Resilience Plan) under Mission 3, whilst the additional investments planned by the Group over the next ten years represent an opportunity to redesign and rewrite the Italian infrastructure and mobility system