'Italferr becomes Fs Engineering to push civil works'

Opening up to civil engineering means competing directly with large private engineering companies: how do you intend to avoid overlaps or conflicts with operators that are not part of the FS group?

We do not see overlaps but synergies. Abroad, we often work with other Italian companies and with international partners. In Italia, for example, we have protocols with the Metropolitan City of Rome for Bim training and with several institutions for digitisation and infrastructure monitoring projects.

Does expansion outside the railway perimeter also imply a different risk profile? Will the criteria by which you choose orders and partnerships change?

No, because we already select projects according to their strategic nature. We are present in Uzbekistan, the Baltic States and international cooperation initiatives. We can offer a complete, turnkey service, from project conception to digital procurement and project management.

Is opening up the civil works market a response to the end of the Pnrr peak?

No, we have been working in civil engineering for a long time. The Pnrr was an accelerator but we are already looking at future challenges, such as the Strait Bridge, which I consider a strategic hinge of the European corridors.

Are you involved in the Bridge project?

We are already involved in the preparatory and complementary works and we are opening an office in Messina to enhance these activities. I think that this work must also be done because it represents an essential junction. I recall that we have 17.1 billion in investments in Sicily and 13.1 billion in Calabria.

With the increase of commissioning and large railway projects, how much decision-making power does Fs Engineering have over Rfi in the technical definition of works?

In the FS Group everyone has defined roles. We are the engineering arm and make technical and technological decisions, in continuous coordination with Rfi. We are also building a national digital operations room for monitoring construction sites, which will be ready by May. It is a feather in our cap because it will be to all intents and purposes a big brother on all railway sites, allowing constant monitoring and real-time intervention by governing critical situations.

What tools do you use to avoid variants and extra costs in projects?

Project quality and digital control. Advanced Bim prevents delays and cost increases and also integrates prevention and safety systems: the protection of people remains the priority.

Two fronts on which you are working and which are bearing fruit?

Certainly that of archaeological prevention with a hi-tech system that we are patenting and which allows us to assess whether there are finds underground. Another pioneering area is hydrogeological risk mitigation where, in partnership with a Japanese company, we are developing a system for forecasting adverse events that, we hope, can help us make reliable predictions up to three hours in advance, thus making an excellent contribution to prevention.