FS Italiane and Snam have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to assess technical-economic feasibility and new business models related to the development and promotion of hydrogen rail transport in Italy. The agreement, signed by Gianfranco Battisti and Marco Alverà, the managing directors of the FS Italiane Group and Snam, respectively, provides for the implementation of feasibility studies and the development of joint projects on railway lines convertible to hydrogen throughout Italy.
In particular, FS Italiane and Snam will establish a working group with the aim of evaluating possible pilot projects involving the replacement of fossil fuels with hydrogen. The companies will experiment with innovative technological solutions related to the production, transport, compression, storage, supply and use of hydrogen to contribute to the development of sustainable mobility, and will collaborate on joint initiatives subject to potential financing or tender.
“The agreement signed with Snam confirms the importance for FS Italiane of encouraging sustainable mobility, in full consistency with the European guidelines of the Green New Deal”, Gianfranco Battisti explained. “We continue to innovate and develop safe and ecological mobility solutions that will allow the new generations to live in a more sustainable and competitive country, according to a model that places people more and more at the centre. In this sense, hydrogen rail transport represents a fundamental innovation capable of making passenger and freight journeys on the remaining railway sections not yet electrified more environmentally friendly”.
“With this agreement, we are taking an important step in promoting a hydrogen supply chain in Italy, starting from sectors that are crucial for decarbonisation, such as the transport of people and goods. Thanks to the collaboration between FS Italiane and Snam, we aim to create infrastructures to rapidly convert trains currently powered by diesel in Italy to hydrogen and thus acquire a technological leadership to be capitalised also at an international level”, said Marco Alverà.
(Source: FS Italiane)
