INTERNATIONAL: Italy’s national railway FS Group has launched London-based transport and infrastructure consultancy FS Advisory, which will provide advisory services to governments, investors, operators, infrastructure developers and engineering companies involved in complex projects worldwide.
FS Advisory said this would address a ‘critical market gap’, with clients requiring integrated expertise across regulatory frameworks, infrastructure development and operations which has traditionally been fragmented across separate firms.
It said it was ‘uniquely positioned’ thanks to its track record of operating one of Europe’s ‘largest, most comprehensive transport networks’ in Italy, as well as operations in Spain, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Greece.
It also brings an understanding of the requirements of public service obligation operations and commercial dynamics, as well as ticketing platforms, performance monitoring systems, shadow and interim management services and operational change, including transition to and from state and private control.
CEO & General Manager of FS Group Stefano Antonio Donnarumma said ‘our international expansion is ambitious by design. We are launching FS Advisory now because the next decade will see unprecedented investment in transport infrastructure globally, but that capital needs the right regulatory frameworks and operational models to deploy successfully. FS Advisory is the natural next step: taking that operational knowledge and making it available to clients worldwide who need partners that have actually solved these challenges at scale.’
The announcement on February 9 came shortly after FS Group announced that its engineering consultancy arm Italferr had rebranded as FS Engineering, reflecting expansion from largely rail-related work into the wider civils and construction market.
Hard-won understanding of the UK
FS Advisory will be led by Ernesto Sicilia, who was previously Managing Director of Trenitalia UK where he was responsible for FS Group’s UK rail holdings. These included the commuter train operator c2c which has now returned to the public sector and the Avanti West Coast inter-city joint venture which is to follow.
’London was chosen as our headquarters not only for its proximity to global infrastructure capital and European transport markets, but also for its depth of talent’, he said. ’The city brings together expertise across engineering, digital innovation, artificial intelligence, finance and academia: a combination that remains critical for building a truly international advisory platform. FS Advisory brings a hard-won understanding of local market dynamics and the levers that drive performance in the UK rail market.’
