Trenitalia will compete with Renfe and Thalys

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03/03/2016

‘If you open your market, other operators will come.’ That is what said the director of International Affairs at Trenitalia, Alberto Mazzola, to the webzine Naciodigital.cat. ‘Competition can be good for everyone and travelers benefit greatly because the service and prices can improve,’ défent Mazzola. Who highlights the experience of Trenitalia on his own land, ‘by focusing on improved frequencies, we have today between Milan and Rome a train every ten minutes (during peak hours).’ Today Trenitalia works two folders outside of Italy: one on the Brussels-Paris route, and more recently, another on the Madrid-Barcelona route, ​​juicy axis of the Renfe.

Currently, Trenitalia is actively working with French infrastructure manager for the connection between Paris and Brussels, but not only. The Italian company will indeed be present on the Spanish market of high speed. ‘Absolutely, we are the first operator in Italy, but the second or third in Germany, where we employ 4,000 people (...) We are looking for other countries,’ explains Mazzola. As is known, the Italian rail giant has already bought high-speed trains ‘that can travel in eight European countries at a speed 360 km / h (...) It is expected that our trains can travel not only in Spain, but also in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and the rest of Europe where there is a potential for high speed market’, alluding to ETR400 (called ETR1000), the Zefiro of Bombardier which begins to be deployed by the Italian operator. These trains are however not yet approved or tested outside Italy, which makes doubt about the optimism displayed by Trenitalia. But as it is a Bombardier product, we can reasonably estimate that the largest Canadian railway manufacturer will not remain only on the Italian market. One supports the other, somehow ...

ETR 400 (photo Nelson-Silva via flickr CC BY-SA 2.0)

All this encourages the Italian's management: 'For three years, we follow the decisions of the Spanish government (concerning the liberalization of the railway sector) (...) Madrid-Barcelona is an interesting link because there are two great cities, larger than Brussels' says Mazella, who believes that if Spain liberalizes the line 'there will be several interested companies.' He recalled that in Italy ‘there a few years ago, a competitor came to make the same high-speed service (Italo-NTV), which was also positive for Trenitalia. We responded, we improved the service and we have reduced costs,' he explains. ‘With competition, we have improved the service and the company Trenitalia is now much better than it was six years ago,’ he says. An analysis rather-provoking when we remember under what circumstances Italo-NTV had to start its services, particularly in terms of access of its lounges and the interdiction to entry in Milan-Central station.

But it's not just the speed that interests Trenitalia. Through its subsidiary Netinera, the Italian company is also interested in commuter service in Catalonia. Asked about problems in the suburbs of Barcelona, ​​Mazzola replied that he did not want to ‘criticize the Spanish situation regarding cooperation between Renfe and Adif, but there are different solutions in the world,’ noting the effective rail services in Japan, where there is a ‘close coordination between transport and infrastructure, as soon as you have a delay of 15 seconds.’

The European Commission Barroso, at the time of the Siim Kallas's period,  had intention to fully liberalize regional rail sector for 2019, but the reluctance of some Member States have pushed that date back much further. Spain appears to remain a partisan of this market opening, although it has not yet enacted legislation. And recently, the political situation has changed in the national parliament. For Mazzola, it seems difficult to meet the 2019 date, and it provides some delay in the political debate in Europe. This does not prevent him from repeating his credo stressing that market liberalization will help the rail sector. ‘If you look at what happened with aviation, there are large companies that existed before, and new ones such as Ryanair or Easyjet. Travelers are those who have benefited the most,’ he concluded.

Time will tell what will be real, but Italy seems decidedly a step in advance of the ideas of liberalization and revitalization of the railway sector. In the Latin sphere of Europe, that contrasts strongly with the apathy that exists in France or in Belgium...