NTV’s "Viaggio italiano" begins today in Rome

Today in Rome, Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori (NTV), Italy’s first private passenger railway company operating on the high-speed network, presented the Italian and international press with its operating program and details on its activities.

The NTV joint-stock company was founded in December of 2006 by the entrepreneurs Luca di Montezemolo, Diego Della Valle, Gianni Punzo and Giuseppe Sciarrone, who were joined as shareholders, in 2008, by Intesa Sanpaolo, Generali Financial Holdings FCP-FIS and Alberto Bombassei.

THE MISSION AND THE OBJECTIVES

The mission of NTV is to offer passenger services on high-speed lines, presenting innovative feature and valorizing the travelling time through complete, customised services, comfortable, technologically advanced surroundings and top quality at competitive prices.

The services, the settings found inside the train and the technology will allow each traveller to make the best possible use of his or her time, in accordance with specific styles and needs, whether the trip is being made for work, leisure or tourism.

As suggested by the title of today’s presentation, “Viaggio italiano” (Italian Journey), NTV is ushering in a whole new way of travelling, focussed around the concept of quality time.

NTV’s objective is to contribute to the growth of the railway system in a manner that stresses low environmental impact and environmental efficiency, so as to make the most from the State’s massive investment in high-speed rail travel (~ € 40 billion). NTV future offer to travellers will have some distinguishing characters, in particular:

A full set of complementary services to the trip, onboard, in the stations, supported by innovative technology (also for highest flexibility in the channels for ticket purchase). A special care will be provided to security for travellers.
Train interior ambiances accurately conceived, for all the travellers. Interiors will be best in class for accessibility, width, seat comfort, lighting, and onboard assistance. Interior style is developed by Italdesign-Giugiaro.
Thorough and user-friendly technology, allowing each traveller to stay connected with his/her world, through internet and on demand contents (news, entertainment, tourism). A special attention will be paid to complete and focused information, for those who are leaving and for those in the train.

NTV will start offering passenger services from 2011, and it will be the world’s first operator to use the new Alstom AGV train, with a fleet of 25 units.

THE SHAREHOLDERS

The NTV shareholder structure is as follows: 54.50% of share are equally distributed among Luca di Montezemolo, Diego Della Valle and Gianni Punzo; 21.40% Intesa Sanpaolo for IMI Investimenti 16.10% Generali Financial Holdings FCP - FIS; 5.40% Alberto Bombassei, 2.60% Giuseppe Sciarrone.

NTV Shareholders	Holdings	Shareholders of NTV partner
Totale MDP Holding	54,50%	Della Valle - Montezemolo - Punzo (equal holding)
IMI Investimenti	21,40%	Intesa SanPaolo
Generali Financial Holdings FCP - FIS	16,10%
Nuova Fourb	5,40%	Bombassei
Reset 2000	2,60%	Sciarrone
Total	100,00%

The Shareholders Funds, prior to the start-up of operating activities, is € 230 million.

Chairman is Luca di Montezemolo, CEO is Giuseppe Sciarrone.

THE STAGES OF THE PROJECT

Founded in December of 2006, NTV has completed the following stages in the development of its project:

6 February 2007, obtained a “Railway Company License” from the Ministry of Transportation
28 July 2007, obtained its “Title of Authorisation” and signed an Agreement Memorandum on “Universal Services”, with NTV pledging to cover the costs and charges of service contracts for non-remunerative segments. By signing this memorandum, an act not required under any law, NTV intended to provide a concrete demonstration of its intent to take part in the process of renovating and developing the railway system as a whole.
17 January 2008, a Framework Agreement signed with Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (Italian Railway Network) for use of the railway infrastructure.

In 2011, NTV shall begin its commercial operations: in fact, three years is the period of time needed by Alstom to build the trains and by NTV to construct the facility for the maintenance of the fleet, to be housed inside the Nola Interport, in addition to training the personnel, setting up the system of reservation and sales and preparing the spaces that are to hold passenger services inside the stations.

THE TRAINS AND THE FLEET

Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori will use only Alstom AGV model (Automotrice Grande Vitesse) very high-speed trains equipped with the same traction system as the train that set the world rail speed record of 574.8 km/h on 3 April 2007.

This extraordinary performance, which confirms the unmatched experience obtained by Alstom in the field of high-speed transport, means that the new AGV constitutes the state of the art in railway technology.

Alstom’s AGV train, which NTV will be using for the first time in the world, is based on a completely new concept, being designed to travel at 360 km/ and satisfy in full the European specifications of interoperability (STI 2006), in addition to meeting both EU and Italian standards on the environment and safety.

The innovative technology presented by the AGV can be summarised by listing benefits that regard every area of performance: greater space available to passengers (+20%), the marked eco-compatibility (a 15% reduction in energy consumption, with 98% of the materials used suitable for recycling), as well as a 15% reduction in maintenance expenses.

Special care has been taken with onboard comfort, starting with eased accessibility (the floor is 10 centimetres lower than on conventionally designed trains) and continuing with the best-in-class transversal space, the painstakingly attentive lighting design and the onboard equipment and outfitting for passengers. The style of the interiors is the work of Italdesign-Giugiaro.

The new AGV train built for NTV will have a capacity of 460 seats distributed among 11 cars (total train length of 200 metres) and will travel on the Italian high-speed network at 300km/h.

There will be 25 trains in the NTV fleet.

THE AGREEMENT WITH ALSTOM

NTV has signed a 650 million euro contract with Alstom for supply of a fleet of 25 AGV trains, to be delivered between the 34th and the 47th month from the date of the contract, with an option for an additional 10 trains.

The agreement with Alstom also covers ordinary and extraordinary maintenance of the fleet for the entire operating life of the trains (30 years), costs that are not included in the train supply contract.

THE MARKET

NTV forecasts reaching a market share of 20% by the year 2015, arriving at the following figures for demand serviced:

30 thousand passengers a day
10 million passengers a year
3.3 billion passengers per Km yearly

ROUTES, LINES AND FREQUENCY OF SERVICE

Starting from 2011, NTV plans to offer service on the following routes:

Turin/Milan/Bologna/Florence/Rome/Naples/Salerno
Rome/Florence/Bologna/Venice
Rome/Bari

The daily frequency – in each direction – of NTV service on the individual lines shall be as follows:

Turin/Milan: 8 trips a day
Milan/Rome (no-stop): 3 trips a day
Milan/Bologna/Florence/Rome: 13 trips a day
Rome/Naples: 16 trips a day
Rome/Florence/Bologna/Venice: 4 trips a day
Rome/Bari: 3 trips a day

There will be a total of 54 train trips daily, making for production of 13.5 million km in a year.

Connection	Today	With Hst*	Difference	Frequency round trip
Turin - Milan	1h22’	1h	22’	8
Milan - Rome (no stop)	4h05’	3h	1h05’	3
Milan - Bologna - Florence - Rome	4h30’	3h10’	1h20’	13
Milan - Bologna	1h34’	1h	34’	14
Bologna - Florence	58’	35’	23’	18
Florence - Rome	1h38’	1h30’	8’	18
Rome - Naples	1h27’	1h10’	17’	16
Venice - Bologna - Florence - Rome	4h20’	4h05’	15’	4
Naples - Salerno	35’	30’	5’	5
Rome - Bari	4h37’	3h55’	42’	3

* Official sources RFI

IMPACT ON EMPLOYMENT

The NTV project shall have a noteworthy impact on employment.

NTV forecasts that, within three years, it will reach a staff size of 1,000 employees, of whom 900 will be operating personnel (120 train engineers, 500 onboard personnel, 200 station personnel and 100 technicians for train operations). In addition to running the trains, this team of individuals will handle real-time monitoring of the service from the NTV Operations Room.

In addition to the staff of 1,000 directly employed, the project calls for the construction of 11 trains at the Alstom facility in Savigliano (Province of Cuneo). Further manpower (approximately 150 people) will be needed to maintain the fleet in Italy once it begins operation.

Furthermore, a number of services will be outsourced (cleaning, security, catering, call center), resulting in secondary employment of approximately 300 more workers.

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