ON JULY 5 French transport group Transdev confirmed that it had been selected for a six-year contract to operate the metro, funicular, rack railway and bus services in Genova.
With 630000 inhabitants making an average of 239 trips per year, Genova is the first Italian city to put the operation of its entire public transport network out to the private sector by international tender.
Transdev will become a ’strategic partner’ with the local authority, investing €22·6m in exchange for a 41% stake in the city-owned operating company Azienda Mobilita e Trasporti SpA. AMT currently has around 2200 staff and a turnover of €150m/year.
On June 23 RATP President Anne-Marie Idrac signed a 30-year contract with the Mayor of Firenze Leonardo Domenici covering the construction and operation of Lines 2 and 3 of the city’s €292m light rail network. RATP Développement and local bus operator ATAF will each hold a 49% stake in concession company Tram di Firenze SpA. RATP is already working on Line 1 which is expected to open in January 2008. The 7·3 km Line 2 and the 3·4 km first phase of Line 3 are expected to follow in 2009-10. On July 1 Tram di Firenze awarded contracts to Alstom for supply of track, overhead line and power supply systems for Lines 2 and 3.
