Italian rail company Trenitalia
was picked Wednesday as the first private operator to run
Spanish high-speed services.
Trenitalia is part of the ILSA consortium with Valencia-based
Spanish airline Air Nostrum.
ILSA was selected by ADIF, the company that runs Spanish rail
infrastructure, as the first private operator to be granted
access to the Spanish rail market.
The Trenitalia consortium will run high-speed services on the
Madrid-Barcelona, Madrid-Valencia/Alicante and
Madrid-Malaga/Seville lines.
Services will start running in January 2022.
The service contract will have a duration of 10 years.
The ILSA consortium will offer 32 daily links with a fleet of
23 trains.
"This project marks the entry of the FS Group into the
Spanish high-speed rail market," said FS CEO and general manager
Gianfranco Battisti.
FS, or Ferrovie dello Stato, is Trenitalia's parent company.
"We are proud to place at disposal, also in Spain, the
know-how developed in 10 years of high-speed (services) with 350
million passengers transported in Italy, making us unique in
Europe in a competitive market," Battisti went on.
"The FS Group is a primary international player, ready to
face the challenges for the tenders on the American market after
getting both rail services between London and Edinburgh,
operational from December 9 in the UK, and the project for
high-speed (services) in Thailand".
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