The railway group led by Luigi Ferraris aims to achieve carbon neutrality ten years in advance
They are technologically advanced, affordable, comfortable, but above all they are ecological. If attention to climate change is also measured by the way one chooses to travel, the new Rock, Pop and Blues regional trains are fully in that direction, also with regard to their technical characteristics and manufacturing specifications.
Financed with Green Bonds, Trenitalia’s new Rock and Pop trains allow a 30% reduction in consumption compared to previous generation trains, which in turn are being progressively replaced on Italian rails. Made from light alloys, they are equipped with an engine with natural ventilation, LED lighting, an air conditioning system with CO2 sensors and use Smart parking technology, which allows some on-board equipment to be turned off, thus reducing consumption during stops.
Always traveling in time with music, Rock and Pop are joined by the latest innovations in FS regional transport: the triple fuel Blues trains. Designed to be powered by electricity, diesel or batteries depending on needs and the type of railway line covered, these vehicles can also reduce fuel consumption by 50% thanks to hybrid technology, in addition to contributing to a strong reduction in carbon dioxide emissions carbon compared to other diesel trains in circulation.
The use of new trains with cutting-edge features, intended mainly for passengers, students, tourists and built almost entirely with recyclable materials, aims to renew Trenitalia’s regional fleet through the relaunch of a service characterized by high quality standards, contributing to safeguarding the environment. And it is precisely on this last point that the FS Group led by CEO Luigi Ferraris continues to focus its operations.
To move towards the net zero objective and contribute to reducing emissions in the transport sector, Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane is advancing along four lines of intervention: modal shift, progressive elimination of fossil fuels, energy efficiency and renewable energy. With regard to modal shift, the FS intends to move more and more people on trains, buses, soft mobility and other means of collective and shared transport, as well as transporting an increasing share of goods by rail, thus removing cars and road trucks. . On another front, work is underway to expand the railway network with the aim of making it wider and more widespread, simultaneously transforming stations into nodes of intermodality and centers of attraction for the development of the territory.
With regard to the elimination of fossil fuels, the industrial plan foresees the electrification of more than 2 thousand kilometers of line, which means gradually eliminating polluting and energy-intensive diesel vehicles from circulation.
In its industrial plan of 200 billion euros in investments over ten years, the Group set the goal of achieving carbon neutrality in 2040, 10 years before the European objectives, a goal that foresees an intermediate step: taking 2019 as a reference, FS wants to halve direct and indirect emissions (Scope 1 and Scope 2) by 2030 and reduce by 30% those in the value chain, the so-called Scope 3, produced by suppliers, customers, employees, etc.
The energy chapter, without a doubt, is the one that has a decisive weight: on the one hand we are moving forward with efficiency and consumption reduction activities, on the other we are putting together a plan for self-production of clean energy. The reduction in consumption starts with trains and buses, designed to have an increasingly higher environmental performance, as with the Rock, Pop and Blues regional trains, but also in the Group’s main infrastructures such as stations, workshops, electrical substations , roads and tunnels, are the target of energy requalification interventions.
The ten-year industrial plan intended by FS Group CEO Luigi Ferraris foresees the self-production of electricity to meet 40% of energy needs through the installation of photovoltaic systems in workshops, stations and other owned spaces. One of the most virtuous examples is represented by the high-speed train maintenance center at San Lorenzo airport in Rome: here, on the roof of the warehouses, a 1,108 kW system was installed to produce 1.5 GWh per year. The production of clean energy saves almost 800 tons of CO2 per year, and in addition to production from renewable sources, the maintenance center also invested in energy efficiency and in reducing electricity and heating consumption, achieving a level of self-sufficiency. -esteem. sufficiency equal to 39% of energy needs.
In 2022, the railway company consumed a total of around 27 million GJ, of which around 74% consisted of the consumption of electrical energy intended mainly for the circulation of trains. Now, however, the Group is starting to think like a producer, with 1.6 billion allocated to photovoltaic systems to be installed in its own spaces. The aim is to produce – when fully operational, 2.6 TWh per year – thus increasing the current global production of solar energy systems installed in Italy by 10%.
Source: IL Tempo
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
