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.

Italferr is among the first companies to have recorded growth results in terms of turnover, income ratios and order backlog, as reported by Il Sole 24Ore. The company, the daily states, has acquired more than 400 million orders on behalf of Group companies (mainly RFI) in the last financial year, in addition to numerous national and international contracts, including the recent acquisitions for works supervision and health and safety supervision, in JV, on the HS/HC Turin-Lyon railway line and for the final design and works supervision of the T2 Bergamo-Villa d'Almè tramway line together with the subsidiary CREW.

The expertise acquired in over 35 years of activity has allowed the company to diversify its business across the entire transport spectrum, establishing itself as a leader in the field. Important projects were acquired in the Italian metro sector with the construction of the Turin Metro, the Genoa Metro, the Padua Tramway and the Genoa Monorail. The company’s strong innovative impulse allowed the achievement of important milestones in the technological upgrading of the main Italian hubs of Naples, Rome and Modena, as well as the Rome-Florence ‘Direttissima’ railway line, the HS/HC Rome-Naples line and the Adriatic Main Railway. Italferr's commitment at the service of the national economic system is increasingly focused on the development of sustainable engineering, which focuses on the quality of life 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 scope of Mission 3 "Infrastructure for sustainable mobility" Component 1 "Investments in the railway network" (High Speed Railway and Road Maintenance 4.0) and in particular in the "Development of the European Rail Transport Management System (ERTMS)".

An extraordinary archaeological complex has been brought to light in the municipality of Vallelunga Pratameno (CL) during the course of preventive archaeological investigations carried out by Italferr on the Lercara-Caltanissetta Xirbi section of the Palermo-Catania railway line. The structures uncovered belong to a domus probably divided into two areas, a "pars rustica" with spaces intended to be used for agricultural production and a "pars dominica" consisting of dwelling areas. The development of the research has allowed us to hypothesise the existence of a vast land plot, probably belonging to a wealthy local landowner who lived between the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. Once again, Italferr's team of archaeologists is confronted with 'history' in the course of the construction of the new high-speed lines. The background acquired in identifying the most effective solutions for resolving possible interferences between the new railway works and the archaeological heritage, as well as for valorising the findings, becomes an indispensable design element for a conscious and sensitive approach to strategic infrastructure destined to bring about important land transformations.

Italferr continues to export its highly specialised know-how by acquiring prestigious contracts in different areas of the world. In the African area, the Company was awarded the National Transport Master Plan in Ethiopia and, in Egypt, the contract for the verification activities towards the modernisation and technological upgrading of the Cairo metro line 1, thus increasing the order portfolio in the country where it is also carrying out another three assignments in the railway sector. Italferr is also consolidating its presence in India with the designing of the metro lines in Kanpur and Agra, 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 metro transport scenario. This sector is where Italferr plays a leading role in Colombia also, with the awarding of the supervision of works on Line 1 of the Bogotá metro, a flagship infrastructure project in the Colombian market and currently one of the most attractive international initiatives in the field of mass public transport. These are important goals that attest to the leadership established by Italferr at a global level through effective business development strategies, through policies of diversification of the services offered and thanks to over 30 years of consolidated expertise in the building of large-scale infrastructure.

Synergy between RFI (Hub leader), Italferr, ANAS and FSE for increasingly more connected, integrated and resilient infrastructure works.

In Italy, Italferr is a protagonist of the main works of the PNRR - National Recovery and Resilence Plan, with particular attention to the South of the country: HS/HC Naples-Bari, Palermo-Catania-Messina and Salerno-Reggio Calabria lines. It holds the key roles of designer of the final and technical-economic feasibility projects put out to tender and Safety Coordinator during the design phase. On the front line, together with the Infrastructure Hub, also on the work progress of the strategic projects Genoa Node and Terzo Valico dei Giovi, Brenner and the HS/HC Turin-Lyon line.

Italferr supports the Infrastructure Hub in the achievement of the challenging objectives of the ERTMS Plan, which envisages the installation of the most advanced train spacing system along 3,400 kilometres of Italian railway networks. The company is involved in the drafting of 25 projects and has started up the first 2 multidisciplinary technological construction sites in Sicily.

In this new scenario, the digitisation process becomes a vital factor in the improvement of infrastructure. From the BIM methodology comes the implementation of the use of the Digital Twin, developed ad hoc by Italferr, as an opportunity for dialogue with territorial and sector stakeholders as well as a strategic tool for authorisation procedures. Digitisation is also a turning point for the world of construction sites. In fact, Italferr, as part of its Works Supervision and Management activities, is launching a series of initiatives to digitise and innovate its processes in order to make them more efficient and effective, also by providing differential upgrading for integrated contracts, no-captive orders and technological projects such as ERTMS. The results achieved confirm, in the new logic of the hub & spoke operating model, Italferr's role as a BIM and Digital Twin Competence Centre and will be used and reworked for diversified applications, already initiated with digital content, such as Mass Transit or the monitoring of existing works.

Mapping and analysing St. Peter's Basilica with digital technologies in order to make it the object of constant future monitoring: this is a project that makes use of Italferr's digital know-how and that has enabled the creation of a digital twin of the Vatican Basilica. The study, conducted on behalf of Fabbrica di San Pietro, took its very first steps in July and August 2022, during the hours when it was closed to the public, with the first surveys necessary to collect over 3.1 terabytes of data. The survey phase required 2 months of indoor and outdoor surveys with a drone and balloon, generating 15,000 photos for 630 Giga Pixels acquired, 2 weeks of post-processing of the point clouds with several PCs working in parallel, and a further 2 months of activity for the development of the BIM information model and the Digital Twin. These are the numbers of the start-up of a complex project in which high technology and digitisation merge harmoniously with the art, faith and culture enshrined within the Vatican Basilica.

Italferr's technological and engineering know-how, combined with its important activity of streamlining and innovating processes, also finds ample space on the foreign market where the Company exports its skills and services for the development of complex projects in various parts of the world. Europe, India, Asia and South America are the countries where it is currently developing the greatest volume of business. Italferr is also consolidating its presence in countries of strategic interest, including the Baltic States, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan, and is setting up new facilities in countries such as France and Canada where it is winning important contracts.

Italferr's commitment to the realisation of major engineering works for the benefit of the country's mobility continues. Supervision of works on the HS Link of Florence for the railway underpassing of the city and on the Naples-Bari and Palermo-Catania-Messina high-speed and acceleration lines; Technical Supervision of the excavation activities for the construction of the new HS/HC Salerno-Reggio Calabria line - lot 1A Battipaglia-Romagnano; Supervision and Supervision of works for the construction of two new stretches of railway line on the HS/HC Milan-Venice line; completion of the excavation of the Lonato natural tunnel on the HS/HC Brescia East -Verona line.

To Italferr the Works Supervision for the construction of the new railway station in Bergamo, a future hub of urban reconnection and sustainable mobility, whose project also includes the doubling of the tracks of the Ponte San Pietro-Bergamo line. 

Italferr's challenges in international projects continue. The Rail Baltica project, the HS line that will connect the three Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) with the European railway network, becomes an exemplary example for the use of advanced measures and technologies aimed at improving the energy efficiency of the infrastructure, facilitating the reduction of the climate footprint and the transition towards renewable energy. In India, the Anji Khad takes shape: the first cable-stayed bridge, designed by Italferr, is now among the most significant works of the entire Udhampur-Baramulla railway line, which will cross the north-western region of India, along the slopes of Kashmir, to the border with Pakistan. In November 2024, the project was awarded the Award of Merit in the Bridge/Tunnel category of the ENR Global Best Projects 2024, a prestigious recognition awarded by an international jury that examined more than 120 applications, testifying to the project's innovation and engineering quality, positioning it among the best infrastructures globally.

...a chapter yet to be written!