At this point, the High Speed/High Capacity (AV/AC) system was firmly underway and Italferr came into its own in the field of innovation. A set of values firmly rooted in its skills and experience made success inevitable when state-of-the-art systems were installed at the hubs and complex crossing works built on the High Speed/High Capacity Bologna-Florence section and intersections on the High Speed/High Capacity Naples-Salerno section. Other Italferr signature projects led to the construction of both HS/HC lines, with the commissioning of the Milan-Bologna section, and the new maintenance facilities for High Speed trains, with the commissioning of the multipurpose facility in Naples and Italy’s largest Computerised Central Apparatus facility in Pisa.

Thanks to the expertise built up in Italy, Italferr was able to secure a number of contracts and projects abroad, in Central Asia, Colombia, Venezuela. Among the largest projects are the General Transport Plan of Iraq, as well as technical assistance contracts with the Czech and Slovak railways, with the Transport Ministries of Slovenia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, for the development of the Macedonian and Serbian networks, for the preliminary and executive designs relating to maintenance facilities in Turkey and Iran, Serbia and Algeria.

The HS/HC system brought about a dramatic change in the Italian railway infrastructure. Italferr played a leading role in this modernisation process: 1000 km of tracks at 300 km/h down the length of Italy, from Turin to Salerno, including the over 254 km tracks of the Rome-Florence express line (Direttissima), which had been inaugurated in the early 1980s, and the Naples-Salerno and Milan-Bologna lines commissioned in 2008. To these we must add the new section between Milan and Novara, which together with the existing Novara-Turin section, completed the Turin-Milan HS/HC line, and the 19 km long stretch of the Gricignano-Naples HS/HC line connecting the Rome-Naples and Bologna-Firenze lines with the transport system of Campania.

The new challenges posed by sustainable development were overcome through the introduction of alternative engineering tools, capable of optimising consumption, to remove or at least minimise pressure on the ecosystem. To achieve this, Italferr developed a Carbon Footprint method for measuring the CO2 emissions at the design stage, winning two Merit Awards, one for the integrated “Quality, Health & Safety and Environmental” (QHSE) Management System (ISO 9001; ISO 14001; OHSAS 18001) and the other for the new carbon footprint calculation method (ISO 14064-1).

Italferr secured new contracts abroad, in Algeria, Romania, Croatia and Serbia, plus the study for upgrading the Balkan rail corridor.

The HS/HC network featured the inauguration of the first dedicated high speed station in Italy, Roma Tiburtina, the commencement of works on the Napoli Afragola station, the completion of the Mediopadana high speed station of Reggio Emilia and of the through line at Bologna, with its new underground High-Speed station. A unique high-performance infrastructure accommodating two types of traffic – High-Speed and regional – which separately converge there. Other projects included the start of construction work on the new Milan-Verona HS/HC line, the third Giovi Tunnel, the upgrading of the Genoa hub, the through line and new High-Speed station in Florence. Last but not least, the preliminary design investigations and the contract awarding processes for the Naples-Bari and Palermo-Catania-Messina lines.

Italferr secured the challenging site supervision contract for the Milan 2015 WORLD EXPO, the universal exposition on food and sustainability, hosted by Milan from 1 May to 31 October 2015, in an area of one million square metres.

Italferr also improved its capacity to tackle complex cross-border problems, with several strategic projects related to the new Turin-Lyon rail link and the Brenner Base Tunnel, as well as the rail link to its southern entrance.

Italferr set up a new wholly-owned company called Infrastructure Engineering Services, which secured, inter alia, the feasibility study for the new multimodal station of Tirana (Albania) and the contract for designing a new railway line in Croatia. The company also won the tenders for the first high speed station in Africa, in Casablanca, for designing the new signalling system on the Cairo-Porto Said line, for providing technical assistance to the ANESRIF, the Algerian government agency for implementing the rail investment program, also defining, with the “Arab Network Railway Study”, the projects aimed at creating a rail network dedicated at fostering the integration of the entire Arab world. Among the most prestigious success stories include the contracts for designing the new rail link between Jeddah and Al Jubail in Saudi Arabia, the “Doha Metro Red Line Underground” in Qatar, the “Consultancy Services for Preliminary Design of the National Railway Project in the Sultanate of Oman”, the supervision of the construction work of the Eurasia Tunnel in Turkey, together with the designs for the airport link between Esenboga International Airport and Ankara.

Italferr’s core business is the construction of strategic infrastructure works in Italy and the completion of the High-Speed railway lines, as well as the definition of increasingly better safety standards homogeneously applied to the entire railway network run by RFI. Italferr awarded the overall monitoring and works supervision for the Terzo Valico dei Giovi. This project involves upgrading the Genoa-Basel-Rotterdam/Antwerp rail axis with the aim of linking the Mediterranean to the North Sea in an efficient and environmentally sustainable manner. Another prestigious assignment that will also make it possible to travel from Milan to Genoa in under an hour, bringing real advantages for "Sistema Italia" ["Italy as a System"]".

Italferr was one of the first Italian companies in its sector to adopt BIM (Building Information Modelling), in architectural, structural and plant design and among the few in the world to have started its application in infrastructure projects. Promoter in 2013 with the contract for the Red Line of the Doha metro in Qatar and winner of the "BIM & DIGITAL Award", proposing the so named project "Unlock Italy: Naples - Bari itinerary. Railway infrastructure of the Apice-Hirpinia section", at the first national event on innovation and digital transformation of the built environment organized by DIGITAL & BIM Italia by SAIE, for the 'infrastructure' category.

Italferr has been commissioned by the Consorzio Pergenova to develop the execution design for the reconstruction of the new Genoa Bridge. The special architectural idea created by the Renzo Piano firm has required the need to develop unusual engineering solutions. By putting together a dedicated Task Force, Italferr immediately got down to work and finished designing the new infrastructure in record time. The new Ponte San Giorgio bridge is a source of great pride, a unique point of reference in the field of engineering, an innovative success made possible by the advanced technologies supplied by our company thanks to its renowned expertise.

Italferr has applied all-round strategies aimed at seizing the many opportunities offered by markets in foreign countries such as the Arabian Peninsula, India and the Far East where the Company is already performing high-profile projects. In Iran, in particular, Italferr has entered a contract for Project Management Consultancy services for the construction of that country’s first High Speed line, consolidating its growth in the Middle East, while in Turkey, in December 2016, opened the Eurasia Tunnel in Istanbul. pecial focus will be placed on the extraordinary business opportunities offered by the USA market where the railways sector is projected towards exponential growth. 

Italferr lands in the Americas with the coordination and integration of the engineering of lines 2 and 4 of the Lima Metro, with the technical assistance for the design of the 560 km long Acalandia-Barcarena railway line in Brazil, and with the "Ferrogrão" project to assist in the development of profitability analysis of the future concession of the Brazilian line. It joins the designers supporting the Joint Venture of Contractors for the California High Speed Railway's "Design & Build of Contract Package 4" bidding project. The Company also expands into Africa with the "Update Master Plan Congo" to revamp the current Transportation Plan, with the consulting, maintenance and operation services for the new Ethiopian Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway line, and with the technical and organisational assistance to Ethiopian Railways. The latter contracts confirm Italferr's leadership in the landscape of large global engineering companies.

The know-how gained in more than 35 years of experience has enabled the company to diversify its business across the transportation spectrum, establishing itself as a leader in the sector. Important projects are acquired in the Italian metro sector with the construction of the Turin Metro, Genoa Metro, Padua Tramway, and Genoa Monorail systems. The strong innovative impulse allows the achievement of important milestones in the area of technological upgrading of the main Italian Railway Hubs of Naples, Rome, Modena, as well as the Rome-Florence Direttissima line, the Rome-Naples HS/HC line and the Adriatic Route. Italferr's commitment to serving 'Sistema Italia' is increasingly focused on the development of sustainable engineering, which places quality of life center stage through the realisation of works capable of enhancing the territory. On the basis of these objectives, Italferr is making a significant contribution to the implementation of the NRRP within the framework of Mission 3 "Infrastructure for sustainable mobility" Component 1 "Investments in the railway network" (High-speed rail and road maintenance 4.0) and in particular of the "Development of the European Rail Transport Management System (ERTMS)".

Italferr continues to export its highly specialised know-how by winning prestigious assignments in different areas of the world. In Africa, the Company was awarded the National Transportation Master Plan in Ethiopia and in Egypt the contract for the verification activities of the modernisation and technological upgrading of the Cairo Metro line 1, thus increasing its order portfolio in the country, where it is pursuing three other assignments in the railway sector. Italferr is also consolidating its presence in India with the Kanpur and Agra metro lines projects in two of the largest industrial cities in the north of the country, confirming its leadership not only in the High Speed sector but also in the international mass transport panorama. This is a sector in which Italferr plays a leading role also in Colombia, with the awarding of the supervision of works for Line 1 of the Bogotá metro, a flagship infrastructure project in the Colombian market and currently one of the most attractive international initiatives on the mass public transport front. These are all important assignments that attest to the leadership established by Italferr on a global level through effective business development strategies, through policies of diversification of the services offered and thanks to more than 30 years of consolidated expertise in large infrastructure.