FS: Donnarumma leaves. Salvini: new technical director
The announcement came following a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport Matteo Salvini
Stefano Donnarumma at the helm of FS: in the coming days, the CEO will ‘wrap up the most important dossiers before handing in his resignation’. This decision was taken by the Ministry of Transport following a meeting with Matteo Salvini.
The meeting
“Salvini – according to the Ministry’s account – thanked the CEO for his work and the more than 90,000 FS employees who perform an essential role every day. Both agree that the term of office should end earlier than planned to allow phase two of the company to begin, having successfully met the PNRR targets, with a new leader chosen from within the organisation.” Donnarumma is expected to be replaced by the current CEO of Trenitalia Gianpiero Strisciuglio.
Salvini: a joint decision, a railway worker appointed as the new CEO
‘I met with the chief executive, Stefano Donnarumma, and we agreed that, now that the PNRR phase – which was the most important, most delicate and most complicated – has been completed, with all the construction sites due to close this summer, we will move on to phase two with a handover. We made this decision by mutual agreement. It is a handover that has been agreed and supported by both sides,” explained Salvini. As for the future, the Deputy Prime Minister is considering “an internal candidate, a railway professional who will manage 90,000 outstanding employees of an excellent company”.
Disagreements with the MEF
Two days ago, Donnarumma (whose term was due to expire following the approval of the 2026 budget, i.e. next spring) and the senior management of the FS Group’s operating companies had met with the Minister for Transport to discuss infrastructure projects, the targets of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), service quality and solutions to the disruption experienced in recent months. Rumours had repeatedly highlighted disagreements over management with the Ministry of Economy and Finance – the group’s controlling shareholder – particularly regarding the acquisition of the railway business unit of Pizzarotti and regarding Donnarumma’s intention to open up to foreign capital for the investments required by the group.
Salvini’s frustration at the disruption to services
On Tuesday 23 June, Donnarumma had highlighted the team’s good record for punctuality, despite a few days best forgotten for the passengers on high-speed trains (which had occurred on 17 and 22 June).
