Italferr in the world

CIFI, the Association of Italian Railway Engineers, in collaboration with the Order of Engineers of the Province of Florence, has organised the 'Italferr in the world' conference.

Hosted at the 'Sala Comitato' hall of Rete Ferroviaria Italiana - Florence Territorial Operations Directorate, the event represented an important opportunity to tell the audience, from the engineering world and beyond, about the leading role played by Italferr in projects of strategic importance in the world.

Mr. Andrea Nardinocchi, CEO and General Manager of Italferr introduced Italferr's contributions on the know-how acquired worldwide by recalling how in almost 40 years of history, Italferr, the FS Group's Infrastructure Hub engineering company, has consolidated a great deal of experience in the railway sector and beyond, both on domestic and foreign markets.

The set of contributions was intended to open a window on the most prestigious international activities for the company.

Mr. Roberto Borghi, Head of the Foreign Market and No Captive Division, offered an interesting introduction on the international activities of Italferr and of the FS Group, with focus on the specificities characterising the foreign market with reference to global solutions for sustainable infrastructure.

Details of some of the most significant international projects were then illustrated in the second part of the conference.

The contribution by Ms. Stefania Albanesi, Head of the Operations and Project Management Division at Italferr, focused on the development of Italian railway engineering in the world, with the presentation of a case study regarding the Doha Metro in Quatar.

An integral part of Quatar's railway development programme, the Doha metro network consists of 3 lines, providing connections within Doha City and with the Greater Doha area, and whose milestone for completion and operation was the FIFA World Cup held in November 2022.

With Mr. Roberto Di Bianco, Head of Italferr's Static Tests Division, the topic moved on to India, where Italferr has been involved since 2018 in the construction of the Anji Khad bridge, an iconic structure with a very high strategic value for the new railway line that will cross the north-western Indian region as far as the border with Pakistan.

The concluding contribution by Mr. Francesco David, System Engineering Manager of Italferr, dealt with the most topical aspect of digitalisation in System Engineering, understood as an interdisciplinary and iterative process of definition, development, implementation, integration and verification of a system, which can be composed of hardware, software and human elements, in order to meet specific requirements and objectives. This was followed by an in-depth discussion on Rail Baltica, the largest high-speed rail project in Europe in recent years. The project involves the construction of a new double-track railway line with a 1435 mm track gauge, electrified at 25kVac and equipped with ERTMS, for a total length of about 870 km and a design speed of 249 km/h. The new line is to become interoperable with the European TEN-T Corridors.

Contributions were followed by a lively Q&A session, confirming Italferr's interest in advanced engineering, activities and strategic projects that see it as one of the world's top players.