In November 2018, Italian state-owned railway operator Ferrovie Dello Stato Italiane inaugurated the world’s first high-speed rail service dedicated to freight, which will run between the southern city of Caserta and Bologna.
European countries have little more than ten years to meet standards set by the European Union in 2011, which called for 30% of road freight to be shifted to rail or waterborne transport by 2030. But with rail’s share of the European freight market ranging between around 11 and 12% –significantly smaller than in countries like the US (30%) and Russia (80%) – achieving this target is proving harder than planned.
As the prospect of taking a further 50% of cargo off the road by 2050 looms large, Italian state-owned operator Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane Group might have just made a significant step towards a more sustainable and efficient rail freight sector.
In November 2018, Mercitalia Logistics (Gruppo FS Italiane) has launched the world’s first high-speed rail service dedicated to freight.
Running on the pre-existing Italian High Speed/High Capacity network currently in use for passenger trains, the service will connect the southern terminal of Maddaloni-Marcianise, near Caserta, to Bologna, one of the country’s most important logistics hubs, in three hours and 30 minutes overnight.
Particularly destined for producers of time-sensitive products such as express couriers, logistics operators, producers and distributors, the service will rely on a modified ETR 500 trainset (also known as Frecciarossa) featuring twelve cars, the equivalent of 18 trucks or two cargo planes.
The move has been largely praised both at national and international levels, but also raised doubts among stakeholders, who fear it might not be enough to improve the country’s intermodal services.