Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane (FS) will invest EUR 20 billion in rail digitalisation projects to be implemented over the next ten years.
The announcement was made by Stefano Antonio Donnarumma, CEO of FS, during the presentation of the 2026 Strategic Report by the Centre for Digital Economy. Donnarumma underlined that the investment will be used for the installation of the ERTMS onboard “10,000 trains that travel 17,000 km of network every day”, describing it as “an extraordinary evolution for the times we live in.”
Rail digitalisation is one of the key pillars of the FS Group, aimed at transforming and innovating the entire mobility system. Among the main innovation objectives of the FS Strategic Plan is the installation of the ERTMS across the entire extended core network of the TEN-T. This technological upgrade also extends to rolling stock. In the coming years, FS plans to install the ERTMS on 382 Trenitalia trains and 60 FS Logistix locomotives. The goal is to equip the entire Trenitalia fleet of around 2,000 trains in total, by 2030, and to extend installation to the whole FS Logistix fleet by 2033.
Installing the ERTMS both on board trains and along the network, Donnarumma added, is “essential to ensure interoperability between onboard and infrastructure technologies, enabling a significant improvement in service quality.”
The CEO of FS also emphasised that digitalisation and artificial intelligence are now essential components in managing rail transport. “In Italy, around 10,000 trains run every day, carrying more than 2 million passengers, which means over 570 million a year. Each passenger generates dozens of data points, and each train hundreds, hour by hour, section by section.
With such volumes, digitalisation is the key tool that enables us to manage rail transport effectively and efficiently. Without artificial intelligence, algorithms and advanced systems, it would no longer be possible to operate infrastructure of this scale.”
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