Trenitalia S.p.A., Italy’s national railway operator, has awarded CAF, through the Group's subsidiary CAF Italia, the preventative and corrective maintenance project of its fleet made up of 59 high-speed ETR500 trains called “Frecciarossa” (Red Arrow), which provide service in the Italian railway network. The basic contract price amounts approximately to €120 million, for a contractual term of 6 years with the option of extending this term by 6 additional years.
ETR500 trains are part of the Trenitalia Long-Haul Division which operates the high-speed line “Turin-Milan-Salerno” and can reach up to 300 km/h (190 MPH), linking the cities of Turin, Milan, Reggio Emilia, Bologna, Florence, Rome, Naples and Salerno, among others. Furthermore, these trains offer services to traditional connections out of the high-speed line, reaching other major cities such as Padua, Venice, Rimini, Ancona, Pescara, Foggia and Bari.
The maintenance activities covered by this contract will mainly be carried out in Trenitalia workshops which to provide high-speed servicing in Naples and Milan, as well as the operator's facilities in the cities of Venice and Rome. In addition to maintenance, the contract caters also for technical support both on-track and at the main stations of serviced by the high-speed units.
All tasks will be performed by CAF’s subsidiary, CAF Italia, whose personnel are qualified according to the local regulation requirements set by the ANSF - Agenzia Nazionale per la Sicurezza delle Ferrovie (Italian National Railway Safety Agency). It is worth highlighting that this project will employ over 300 people, who will join CAF Italia’s current staff which performs other servicing contracts in Italy for clients such as Trenitalia, ATM S.p.A (Milan), ATAC S.p.A (Rome), Ferrotranviaria (Bari) and ARST (Sardinia).
Extension of tram supply contract for De Lijn (Belgium)
The Flanders Public Transport Operator De Lijn (Belgium), has recently approved the purchase of 23 additional CAF trams for a contractual amount of €44 million. These new 23 trams are part of the third contract batch signed with CAF in October 2017 the scope of which is the manufacture and supply of up to 146 trams in various batches which will be consecutively triggered by the Customer. It is worth highlighting that the first two batches of 24 trams each were triggered in 2017 with the signature of the contract.
De Lijn is the Flemish public operator for buses and tramways, which carries about 530 million passengers per year. The first 48 units will be commissioned for revenue service next year in the tram line covering the Belgium coast, while the third batch of trams will be delivered during the second half of 2022 for providing service in Antwerp.
Over the last 3 years, CAF has secured significant contracts in the Benelux, with the supply of underground units for Brussels, underground and tram units for Amsterdam, as well as trams for Luxembourg and Utrecht to name but a few. Furthermore, last December, CAF signed an extension to the currently contract in operation with the Dutch operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS), to increase the supply of commuter trains to this company to a total number of 206.