RM: You are a relatively young company, founded in 2016. What has been your main achievement in these 7 years?
We have managed to carry out mobile maintenance in several locations in central and northern Italy, identifying strategic points for rail traffic where we can intervene and, in some cases, creating real reference points for our customers. We see space for improvement in those geographical areas where freight traffic could develop further and therefore require maintenance. We never stop learning in this sector: each type of maintenance intervention is constantly monitored and analysed by us in order to make improvements. In addition, the various requests for intervention that we receive are always a source of learning and continuous improvement.
RM: You operate mobile workshops for the maintenance of rail freight wagons. What are the advantages compared to workshops in buildings - apart from better mobility, of course? Does it reduce costs, increase operability?
In fact, our business is all about mobility. We believe that mobile workshops have been, are and will continue to be fundamental for the sector, especially in Italy, which has a sometimes inaccessible territory. The advantages for our customers are many: saving the cost of transporting the wagon to a fixed facility, reducing the time the wagon is down for repairs and therefore returning it to service more quickly.
However, it is important to note that not all maintenance can be carried out by a mobile workshop. In some cases, a fixed workshop is essential to carry out a major repair or overhaul. Work carried out in a mobile workshop can resolve certain wagon failures in a short time, avoiding wagon downtime and the consequent loss or delay of goods at destination, with significant economic consequences for the customer.
In recent years, we have also seen the benefits of preventive intervention when the train is leaving or arriving at its destination: by intervening directly in the areas where the goods are going to be stored, the risks of possible wagon stoppages are eliminated - in advance. In the hope that the volume of goods transported will increase again, this would certainly be an important advantage for our customers.
RM: How many of these mobile workshops do you operate in Italy?
We currently operate seven mobile workshops distributed throughout Northern Italy:
- 2 mobile workshops, located in the Novara area, easily cover operations in Piedmont, Lombardy and border areas
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1 mobile workshop, located in the Pavia area, in addition to guarding the Eni refinery in Sannazzaro de' Burgondi, intervenes in Lombardy/Piedmont/Liguria/Tuscany
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1 mobile workshop, located in the Cremona area, can cover Lombardy, Emilia Romagna, Tuscany and Veneto
- 3 mobile workshops, located between Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia, can easily cover Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia and the border areas with Austria, Slovenia and Croatia
RM: How quickly can you reach the customer and start the repair?
We usually reach the wagon and start the repair within 24/48 hours of the request. We always try to intervene quickly to provide a better service to the customer and try to meet their needs.
It has happened that we are able to intervene in the afternoon and receive the request in the morning: of course it depends on many variables (the distance to reach the broken down wagon, the type of intervention, i.e. whether it includes the replacement of parts or not, etc.)
The next part of the interview with Gabriele Tricarico, CEO of RFMA, is coming soon.
