Mercitalia Logistics, part of the Italian railway holding Ferrovie dello Stato (FS), will start using Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) to power its locomotive at the logistics intermodal platform in Padua. “According to the timeline, it should start by the end of summer”, said a spokesperson from FS.
The initiative is part of the deal which saw Mercitalia Logistics, via its daughter company Mercitalia Shunting & Terminal, winning the tender for shunting operation in the terminal in Padua, one of the major rail freight nodes in Italy. Other than the deployment of HVO as an alternative fuel in a few months, the company will use hybrid locomotives as well.
FS and HVO
FS has been progressively expanding the scope of its HVO utilisation. First, it ran a pilot with a few trains from its passenger operator subsidiary Trenitalia in the summer of 2023. Then, six months ago, the Mercitalia cluster signed a contract with Italian oil giant Eni to transport HVO and other chemical products. And soon it will be used to power shunting locomotives in Padua. “Other facilities where we plan to use HVO are La Spezia and Livorno”, the FS spokesperson added.
Interporto Padova
The logistics intermodal platform in Padua, known as Interporto Padova in Italian, is a crossroad for freight transport in Italy. With rail connection to most major ports in the country and various terminals in northern Europe. Intermodality plays a key role for the terminal, which is also highlighted in the data for 2024, where this segment recorded a 6.4 per cent increase compared to 2023.