The figures were announced with great emphasis by Stefano Donnarumma, chief executive officer and general manager of the Gruppo FS: in 2025, the first year of implementation of the 2025–2029 Strategic Plan, investments exceeded €18 billion, setting in motion a long-term trajectory that foresees €177 billion to be spent between 2026 and 2034. According to the company, the measures implemented are broadly in line with the schedule because, against available allocated resources of €25 billion, eighteen billion, as noted, have actually been spent, including €7 billion earmarked for PNRR projects. As for the latter, the railways aim to consolidate a structural investment capacity of €12 billion per year even in the post-PNRR phase.
Despite this undeniable acceleration in works, as evidenced by the data provided by the head of FS, the road ahead remains long. Many Italian projects still need to be delivered, starting from a situation marked by delays and critical issues, compounded by significant practical and bureaucratic difficulties. A snapshot of what has been achieved and, above all, what remains to be done emerges from the Commercial Plan of RFI in its latest October 2025 edition. Focusing solely on infrastructure and interventions dedicated to freight transport, the document sets out in detail the objectives that, often for reasons not attributable to FS, fall under the category of “postponed activation”.
The main interventions include the port of Trieste, the Villa Opicina yard and the related Aurisina junction, the Gorizia loop, the upgrading of the Voltri terminal, Genova Marittima Fuori Muro, the Brescia yard, the new Milano Smistamento terminal, the Brindisi intermodal hub, the enhancement of the Taranto back-port yard, the flyover of the Tyrrhenian line at Livorno Calambrone, the yard and central sidings at Verona Quadrante Europa, and the restoration of the freight spur at Santa Maria Capua Vetere.
There are also large-scale projects where, objectively, implementation times are not short, partly because they start from a network whose characteristics and capacity are no longer adequate for current needs. One example is the upgrading plan for freight trains of up to 2,500 tonnes. Before November 2019, operation on the RFI network was permitted only for trains with a maximum trailing load of 1,600 tonnes and only with specific authorisation from the network manager depending on the routes involved. With two operating provisions issued in 2019, circulation on the lines was extended, but in practice only in theory, to 2,500 tonnes, as this has to contend with the capacity offered by the electric traction system to absorb the higher power required.
On this front, there is still a great deal to be done. The 2025 RFI Commercial Plan specifies that only 13 sections out of a total of 1,029 identified have so far been upgraded, together with just one electrical substation out of a projected 31 facilities to be adapted. In detail, the only completed works concern the routes from Novara towards the international Luino border crossing, also reached from Gallarate, and the first section towards the Simplon. The priority is now to upgrade the entire main network of northern Italy serving cross-border corridors.
And again, with regard to the main corridors, several planned interventions are being pushed back beyond the 2029 horizon, even if partially under way. These include the second phase of works at the port of Trieste, the definitive reorganisation of the Verona Quadrante Europa yard, the second phase of upgrading the rail node serving the port of Ravenna, the connection to the port of Vasto, completion of works on the Novara node (phase one), the Alessandria hub, the connection of the Guasticce freight village with the Pisa–Vada line via Collesalvetti and the interconnection of the Pisa–Vada line with the Florence–Pisa line, the Falconara node and the new Bari Lamasinata facility.
Piermario Curti Sacchi
