Alstom has signed a framework contract valued at EUR 124 million with Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI) to design and implement ERTMS (European Rail Transport Management System) in four Italian regions.

The contract is the first step in the technological projects financed by the NRP (Recovery and Resilience Plan) and is part of a larger group of contracts worth approximately EUR 500 million to design and implement ERTMS on 700 km. of railway lines in Sicily, Lazio, Abruzzo and Umbria. A specially formed consortium comprising Alstom along with Hitachi Rail, Ferroviaria, and Ceit. will carry out the work.

ERTMS is the traffic management system for railways in Europe. It will ensure interoperability of national railway systems to reduce the purchasing and maintenance costs of the signalling systems, as well as increasing the speed of trains and the lines’ capacity.

Alstom will manage the executive design and construction of the latest ERTMS Baseline 3 Level 2 signalling system with GSM-R and ACCM on the sections under its responsibility, with the support of Ceit as a partner for the yard activities. The system proposed by Alstom meets the technical specifications for interoperability required by the European Union and the CENELEC standards for railway safety, guaranteeing the highest and most restrictive safety requirement.

• GSM-R – a radio system for voice and data communication between the track and the train;
• ACCM – Multi-station Central Computer Equipment;
• CENELEC – European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation.

Approximately 480 km. of tracks in Sicily, 150 km. of the former Umbra Central Railway, and 80 km. of the Roccasecca to Avezzano line, will be equipped with the new technology. These represent 50% of the first phase of technological projects financed by the NRP to equip 1,400 km. of railway lines with ERTMS by December 2024.

Nearly 3 billion Euros are being provided to implement ERTMS on over 3,400 km. of Italian railways by 2026, aligned with RFI’s goal of installing the system on all its 16,700 km. of lines.

Michele Viale, General Manager of Alstom Italia and President and CEO of Alstom Ferroviaria, said
“We are very pleased with the contribution that our company, a leader in the field of sustainable and smart mobility, will make to Italy. A first major step towards ecological transition.”

“We are proud to have been chosen by RFI for the first railway project financed by the Recovery and Resilience Plan. Today, 30% of ERTMS level 2 lines in service in Europe are supplied by Alstom, demonstrating that our company is a world leader in this field. Therefore, we are very pleased with the contribution that our company, a leader in the field of sustainable and smart mobility, will make to Italy. A first major step towards ecological transition.”