In brief

When presenting its results for 2025, the FS Group stated that the first year of the 2025–2029 Strategic Plan had been marked by a profound transformation of the Group’s industrial structure. The reorganisation initiated in 2024 had enabled the five business units to become fully operational, with clearly defined responsibilities, greater integration between the network and operations, and more effective central coordination. This new model was intended to strengthen the public group’s ability to plan, monitor and carry out interventions, enabling it to respond more quickly in critical areas of the network.

The new organisational structure consisting of five main Business Units, each headed by a Lead Company.

• Infrastructure – Rail: led by Rete Ferroviaria Italiana S.p.A. (RFI), responsible for managing and developing the national railway infrastructure.
• Infrastructure – Roads: led by ANAS S.p.A., responsible for the management and maintenance of Italy’s road and motorway network.
• Transport – Freight: led by FS Logistix, focused on freight transport and integrated logistics.
• Transport – International Passenger Services: led by FS International S.p.A., focused on international passenger transport services.
• Transport – Passenger Services: led by Trenitalia S.p.A., focused on passenger transport services at national level. This is the division being referred to on this page.

Germany. FS Group entered the German rail market through the acquisition of Netinera (formerly Arriva Deutschland) in 2011, establishing a strong presence in regional passenger transport. Rather than focusing on high-speed competition, Netinera expanded by winning public service contracts across several federal states and developing one of Germany’s largest private rail networks. Today, it operates regional trains and buses under multiple local brands, carrying millions of passengers annually.

United Kingdom. FS strengthened its British presence in February 2017, when Trenitalia and FirstGroup launched a joint venture to operate the West Coast Partnership, later branded Avanti West Coast, which began services in December 2019. Earlier, in 2017, Trenitalia had acquired the Essex commuter operator c2c from National Express. As is well known, the UK has opted to consolidate its rail operations under Great British Rail (GBR), and no longer renews licences once they have expired. The former Trenitalia UK Ltd was transformed and renamed FS Group Advisory Limited, repositioning itself as a consultancy firm.

Greece. Hellenic Train SA (formerly TrainOSE), a private Greek railway company, operates passenger and freight trains on OSE lines. It employs conductors and crews, runs most of Greece’s rail service, and leases rolling stock from GAIAOSE (except ETR 470 trains). A subsidiary of OSE until 2008, it became an independent public company before being privatized in 2017, when it was acquired by Italy’s national railway operator, Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane. In 2022, TrainOSE was renamed Hellenic Train.

Netherlands. Qbuzz transport company was founded in April 2008 by Rob van Holten and Leon Struijk, former Connexxion executives, with Dutch railways NS taking a 49% stake, prompting unfair-competition complaints later dismissed by courts. In July 2016, NS announced its intent to sell Qbuzz, and in July 2017 confirmed the buyer: Busitalia – Sita Nord, the road transport subsidiary of Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane. The deal was signed on 13 July 2017. Qbuzz was selected by Zuid-Holland province in January 2018 for a combined rail and bus contract, then officially took over R-net rail service on the MerwedeLingelijn line (Geldermalsen–Dordrecht) from Arriva on 9 December 2018.

France. FS first entered France through Thello, launched in December 2011 as a night-train operator between Paris and Venice. Building on this experience, the company created Trenitalia France after the pandemic, which started commercial high-speed services between Paris and Milan on 18 December 2021 using Frecciarossa ETR1000 trains. The network subsequently expanded to Paris–Lyon and Paris–Marseille, with years of losses and a challenging operating environment, given the high-capacity Ouigo services operated by the SNCF.

Spain. Trenitalia entered Spain’s newly liberalised high-speed market through Iryo, a joint venture with Air Nostrum and Globalvia. Commercial operations began on 25 November 2022 between Madrid, Zaragoza and Barcelona, before expanding to Valencia, Seville, Málaga and other destinations. Iryo became the first private high-speed operator to compete directly with Renfe, introducing a premium service focused on comfort, digital innovation and sustainability. Spain thus became FS’s first major open-access high-speed venture outside Italy.