Rome — FS Italiane and Snam have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to evaluate the technical and economic feasibility and consider new business models relating to the development of a hydrogen rail transport in Italy.
The agreement, signed by the CEOs of Gruppo FS Italiane, Gianfranco Battisti, and of Snam, Marco Alverà, is aimed at implementing analyses and feasibility studies and developing joint projects on railway lines that can be converted to hydrogen on the national territory.
In particular, FS Italiane and Snam will set up a working group with the aim of assessing possible pilot projects involving the replacement of fossil fuels with hydrogen.
The companies will experiment with innovative technological solutions related to the production, transport, compression, storage, supply, and utilization of hydrogen to contribute to the development of sustainable mobility, also by taking part in joint initiatives potentially object to financing or public tenders.
Gianfranco Battisti, CEO and General Manager of Gruppo FS Italiane, said: “The agreement signed with Snam confirms the importance, for FS Italiane, of encouraging sustainable mobility, in line with the European Green New Deal. We continue to innovate and develop safe and ecological mobility solutions that will allow new generations to live in a more sustainable and competitive country, according to a model that increasingly places people at the center. Hydrogen rail transports are a fundamental innovation capable of increasing environmental sustainability for both freight and passengers’ transports on the remaining railway sections not yet electrified”.
Snam’s CEO Marco Alverà said: “With this agreement, we are taking an important step in promoting a hydrogen value chain in Italy starting from sectors that are crucial for decarbonisation such as the transport of people and goods. Thanks to the collaboration between FS Italiane and Snam, we aim to create infrastructure to rapidly convert trains currently powered by diesel in Italy to hydrogen, thus gaining a technological leadership to be capitalized also at an international level”.
Any development of the collaboration will be disciplined by the signing of specific agreements between the parties.
The FS Italiane Group is the main transport player in Italy and a reference point in the transport sector also at an international level, both for the excellence of its skills in the railway sector and for its innovative technologies. Leader in rail passenger transport, with 88% of the market share, and in rail freight, with 7%, the FS Italiane Group has over 80,000 employees, over 10,000 trains every day (about 8,000 in Italy and over 2 thousand abroad), approximately 750 million passengers by rail (600 in Italy, 150 abroad), 300 million passengers by road and 50 million tons of goods per year. The railway network comprises over 16,700 km of network (approximately 24,500 km of tracks), of which approximately 700 km of network (1,400 km of tracks) are dedicated to high-speed services. The FS Italiane Group aims to become a system company, serving commuters and passengers of high-speed trains, implementing its offer for integrated and sustainable mobility and logistics services through synergic transport infrastructure. For information: www.fsitaliane.it
Snam
Snam is one of the world’s leading energy infrastructure operators and one of the largest Italian listed companies in terms of market capitalization. Through its international subsidiaries, it also operates in Albania, Austria, China, France, Greece, UAE and UK. The company has the largest natural gas transmission network and storage capacity among European peers and is also one of the main operators in regasification. As part of a €6.5 billion plan to 2023, Snam invests €1.4 bn in the SnamTec project, focused on innovation and new energy transition businesses such as sustainable mobility, biomethane and energy efficiency. Snam also aims to enable and promote the development of hydrogen to foster decarbonisation in the energy sector and industries. Snam’s business model is based on sustainable growth, transparency, the promotion of talent and diversity and the social development of local areas through the initiatives of Fondazione Snam. For information: www.snam.it
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