Goods will travel at high speed and not just passengers. This is the principle that inspired the FS for the new Mercitalia Fast service from next October: the first high-speed freight train in the world, capable of connecting the Marcianise (Caserta) airport to the Bologna Interport in 3 hours and 20 minutes, at an average speed of 180 Km / h. This was announced by the president of Mercitalia Ivan Soncini, the managing director Marco Gosso and the managing director of the FS Renato Mazzoncini, who met the operators of the sector at the Feltrinelli Foundation in Milan. Mazzoncini took stock of Mercitalia's first year of life, with revenues growing to 1,04 billion (+40 million) and Mol back to positive for 40 million (+56 million), but with the operating result still in the red for 31 million, and has turned to politics to advocate the cause of rail freight transport, in the light of the EU White Paper on Transport, which provides that 30% of freight travel by rail by 2030 and 50% by 2050. "We expect - he said - that the future government will continue with the care of iron also for freight transport" and in particular that "it will continue to supply RFI, because Mercitalia is a market operator, while RFI manages the network must be increasingly enhanced to guarantee freight transport to railway companies ”. As for the new Etr 500 freight, in the 12 specially modified carriages it will carry "the same number of 1 cubic meter volume and 220 kg maximum weight 'roll-containers' that can carry 18 Tir or 2 Boeing 747 Cargo", he added. . Among the first customers of the new Mercitalia Fast service are the Interport of Bologna, the express courier T Group, Leroy Merlin, Naturasi ', Admenta and Logista. "In its first year of activity - indicated Mazzoncini - Mercitalia achieved the economic and industrial results, both in terms of investments made and in terms of the objectives indicated in the 2017-2026 Business Plan", with the aim of achieving 2,1 , 2026 billion in revenues by XNUMX. "With the new service - the CEO of Mercitalia Gosso echoed - we will use the High Speed / High Capacity network also for freight transport to offer a tailor-made service to customers who need to deliver the goods quickly, reliably and on time ". "Today - he explained - we are the only railway company able to guarantee this business", which at the beginning will concern the Caserta-Bologna section, but which in the future could be extended to the other High Speed terminals: Turin, Novara , Milan, Brescia, Verona, Padua, Rome and Bari.
