Alstom has signed a framework agreement worth around EUR 900 million with Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI) to design, deliver and commission an ERTMS system (the most advanced train supervision and control system available today), on a large scale in Italy. Alstom will provide the latest ERTMS Baseline 3 Level 2 signalling system with GSM-R and digital interlocking ACCM on 27 lines managed by RFI in the regions of Sardinia, Molise, Puglia, Umbria, Lazio, and Campania. The system proposed by Alstom meets the technical specifications for interoperability required by the European Union and the CENELEC standards for railway safety, guaranteeing the highest safety standards.

The South-Centre lot is part of a EUR 2.7 billion tender, launched by RFI for the implementation of ERTMS throughout the country. It represents the final portion of the technical projects to be financed within the framework of the NRRP and will transform a total of approximately 4,800 kilometres of railway lines. ERTMS is the latest and most advanced traffic management system for railways across Europe.

It constitutes a major industrial project that will make rail transport more fluid and more competitive across the continent. ERTMS ensures interoperability of the national railway systems, reducing the purchase and maintenance costs of signalling systems, as well as increasing the trains regularity and capacity of networks.