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The FS Group (Ferrovie dello Stato) operates abroad. After the high-speed landings in France (Frecciarossa Milan-Paris) and in Spain (again with the Frecciarossa), the FS Group wins two new concessions in passenger transport in Germany and the Netherlands and completes an acquisition in freight transport , still in Germany. Thanks to this latest operation, the FS logistics hub, which belongs to the Mercitalia company, becomes the second freight operator on the German market. Fs, explains the managing director of the Luigi Ferraris Group, looks to Europe as the future domestic market, where competition will not only be between railway companies but between collective and private transport. Ferraris underlines the importance of competition “which makes companies faster and more efficient” and also increases the overall number of passengers. The development of an international strategy for all Group companies envisages an overall increase in revenues from 1.8 billion euros (in 2019) to around 5 billion euros in 2031.
The acquisitions
Qbuzz (city buses), the Dutch regional transport company controlled directly by Busitalia (passenger pole of the FS group), was awarded a new 15-year concession for local public road transport services worth 1.8 billion, between revenues from passengers and public fees. The services will cover the Zuid-Holland-Noord area in the Randstad region which has eight million inhabitants and is between the cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague. Thanks to the award of this additional concession, Qbuzz consolidates itself as the third largest Dutch public transport operator.
From Holland to Germany, with a double operation, in passenger and freight services: the German subsidiary Netinera (passenger pole) was awarded the concession for the local transport service in the Land of Leipzig. Starting from December 2026, the German company of the FS Group will manage for 12 years – until 2038 – the railway services via Leipzig to Plauen, a city in the Land of Saxony and other locations. In the tender awarded in Germany, a particular focus was placed on the new trains, which will be equipped with a greater number of doors than today to guarantee the entry and exit of more passengers in less time. The trains used will be Siemens Mireo vehicles with 150 seats.
Logistics
And we come to freight transport. Tx Logistik, a company in the logistics hub of the FS Group, has just acquired the German company Exploris Deutschland Holding Hamburg, thus becoming the second largest freight transport operator in Germany. The acquisition strengthens the presence of FS in the European market with an enrichment of traffic to and from Italy also to the advantage of the import and export services of the Italian industry. Exploris’ international rail connections are strongly oriented towards east-west transport and therefore complete the Tx Logistik network, already very present along the north-south European axis. Exploris currently operates around 240 trains a week, dedicated to the transport of steel, gypsum, agricultural products, automobiles, construction machinery or mineral oil products for numerous industrial and logistics customers. The workforce grows with 500 employees, which added to the 700 of Tx bring the consistency to 1,200 people. The fleet of locomotives is also growing: the 91 of Tx Logistik are joined by 75 of Exploris. Increasing turnover, over 500 million euros.
Also in Germany, the project to bring the Frecciarossa onto German tracks is progressing, in cooperation with Deutsche Bahn, reducing the travel time between Milan and Munich to just over four hours.