First half operating revenues rose by 2.2% to €5.98bn compared with the first half of 2018.
Transport service revenue increase by €100m to reach €3.75bn, with passenger rail earning an extra €48m, bus €39m, and rail freight €12m. “All indicators show a positive trend,” FS says.
Commuter rail traffic grew by 1.3% to reach more than 12 billion passenger-km, compared with the first half of 2018, as a result of FS’ strategy to revamp the commuter business.
Infrastructure manager Italian Rail Network (RFI) increased its core revenue by €8m thanks to an increase in train-km and changes to the regulated access-charging system.
Costs stable
Operating costs only increased by 0.8% to €4.68bn despite the increase in traffic. FS says this is due to the implementation of cost-saving policies which started in the second half of 2018.
FS invested €2.18bn in the first half of 2019 of which €697m was self-financed and €1.48bn was funded through state aid. More than 50% of the investment was allocated to the conventional and high-speed rail networks. Trenitalia invested €719m, Mercitalia €107m, Busitalia €36m and FS subsidiaries operating abroad €21m.
