(Finance) – The Ferrovie dello Stato Group presents FS Italian Tourist Trains. The new company was born with the mission of proposing an offer of railway services expressly designed and calibrated for quality tourism, sustainable and attentive to rediscovering the riches of the Italian territory. A tourism that can experience the train journey as an integral moment of the holiday, a quality element of the overall tourist experience.
FS Italian Tourist Trains was presented by theChief Executive Officer of Ferrovie dello Stato, Luigi Ferraris, at the National Railway Museum of Pietrarsa (Naples) in the presence of authorities and stakeholders who arrived aboard a train made up of prototype cars that will form an essential part of the fleet.
To illustrate the company’s mission and characteristics was theChief Executive Officer of FS Italian Tourist Trains Luigi Cantamessain the FS Group since 2002 and General Manager of the FS Italiane Foundation since 2013. During the presentation, among others, Monsignor Liberio AndreattaPresident of the FS Foundation, the President of Trenitalia, Stephen Cuzzillathe Chief Executive Officer of Trenitalia, Louis Corradithe Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Edward RixiAnd Karima DelliPresident of the Commission for Transport and Tourism of the European Parliament.
“The newco FS Italian Tourist Trains was created to reaffirm the authoritative role of the FS Group in one of the driving sectors for the country’s economy. In this way we intend to contribute to the relaunch and development of quality, sustainable and aware tourism, ready to appreciate the riches of our territories, rediscovering even lesser-known places”, declared the CEO of the FS Italiane Group Luigi Ferraris as he presented the new company. “Another objective is to make the train journey an integral part of the customer’s experience and create synergies with other tourist activities: from guided visits to historical-archaeological complexes to trekking up to tastings of typical agri-food products, so as to enhance the traditions and economies of the territories crossed. All in line with the FS Italiane Group’s strategy of strengthening the role of the country’s railway system as a driving force for economic and social development”.
The Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani underlined in a message the importance of the new company in the modern tourist strategy, capable of enhancing and allowing passengers to discover the lesser-known territories and beauties of our country.
The new company will be incorporated in the Passenger Pole of the FS Italiane Group, headed by Trenitalia. The Board of Directors, chaired by Alessandro Vannini Scatoliis composed by Liberio Andreatta, Luigi Cantamessa, Maria Luisa Grilletta and Cinzia Marzoli.
There are three areas of service introduced by FS Italian Tourist Trains: Luxury, Express and Historic Trains and Omnibus–Regional.
LUXURY – With the traction of the prestigious luxury trains, primarily the Orient Express – the Dolce Vita, an Italian luxury train that will debut from 2024, or the legendary Venice Simplon Orient Express by Belmond, already operating on European itineraries
EXPRESS AND HISTORIC TRAINS – With the introduction of new connections, including at night, on medium-long range routes between the main Italian cities and places of significant tourist attraction (for example night or day trains from Rome/Milan to Calalzo/Cortina, San Candido, Milan – Genoa with branches to Ventimiglia/Livorno; Rome – Metaponto – Catanzaro via Jonica and Reggio Calabria). The connections offered with Express trains will be made up of cars from the 80s and 90s which will be subject to complete redevelopment and modernization interventions for exclusively tourist use in the Rimini railway workshops. Workshops that will become a sort of refitting atelier for this segment, made up of cars capable of offering differentiated service environments (restaurant carriages with express cuisine on board, sleeping cars, meeting cars, trunks for transporting bikes, skis and vehicles for sustainable mobility). FS Italian Tourist Trains will also manage the journeys made with historic trains, owned by the FS Foundation, in various regions and areas of historical-landscape interest of the peninsula, with ad hoc programs and more regular frequencies, tours that combine the train journey with stops for guided tours, walking routes and tastings.
OMNIBUS-REGIONAL – These are services that will guarantee the circulation of regional trains on weekends, at advantageous rates and accessible to all, on lines that cross territories rich in history, with villages and areas of scenic and naturalistic interest, distinguished by peculiar food and wine and agri-food traditions. Also in this case the planning of the trip, the stops and the timetables will be studied precisely in a tourist-experiential key.
FS Italian Tourist Trains will acquire the assets and rolling stock from the Trenitalia commercial fleet which, following the modernization interventions, will form a fleet of Italian trains specially designed for the needs of the tourist and which will also include the cars for religious tourism. Furthermore, in a subsequent phase, the new company will acquire real estate assets such as workshops for overhauls, fittings and maintenance operations. It will have its own staff such as train drivers, conductors and maintenance workers, trained according to the new tourism standards.
FS Italian Tourist Trains will operate in synergy with the FS Italian Foundationwhich therefore remains the owner of a fleet of almost 400 historic and protected vehicles, and above all with the Business Departments of Trenitalia: High Speed, Intercity and Regional and of the entire Passenger Hub of the FS Group.
In addition to responding to the growing demand for rail tourism in our country, FS Italian Tourist Trains will therefore contribute to promoting a new truly sustainable tourism, to reach both well-known destinations and destinations outside the classic circuits.
It is estimated that in 2030 world travelers will reach 2 billion. Most of these tourists will choose Italy, with an increase in flows expected above all from Asia. Italy is in fifth position in the world for the number of tourists with around 56 million international arrivals in 2022 and a forecast of over 75 million trips from abroad in 2023. According to a recent study, carried out by the Bocconi University of Milan on behalf of the FS Foundation, each traveller, compared to 1 euro spent in the purchase of services on the historical-tourist train, spends at least 1.50 euro and up to 3.18 euro in goods and services offered by the territory crossed: an effect multiplier that will help generate wealth for the internal areas of the country.