Disclosures required by law no. 124/2017...............................................................................................18281 Events after the reporting date

48. EVENTS AFTER THE REPORTING DATE

February

Lodi railway accident

On 6 February 2020, there was a railway accident near Ospedaletto Lodigiano (Lodi) involving Frecciarossa train no. 9595 - operating the commercial service on the section between Milan and Salerno - which caused the death of the two train drivers and injured approximately 30 passengers. Reference should be made to Litigation and disputes in the directors’ report for details.

COVID-19outbreak

After the end of the year, the outbreak of a novel coronavirus, COVID-19, was widely reported in January 2020. The epidemic rapidly spread to many other countries around the world, leading the World Health Organisation to define it a “pandemic” .

Italy is currently one of the countries hardest hit and this has put extreme pressure on the country’s healthcare system, with the government authorities consequently issuing a series of measures to contain the risk of further infection spreading throughout the population.

The COVID-19 emergency will ostensibly affect the regular, ordinary performance of the business activities, despite the mitigation actions that it has already taken or is taking for the primary purpose of ensuring production continuity while protecting its workers’ health and safety.

As COVID-19 spread in Italy in the first few months of 2020, the transport market recorded significant overall drops in passenger volumes. During the initial stage of the emergency, the company maintained its normal operating schedule as it waited to see how the situation would evolve, thereby ensuring all normal transport services for passengers and freight. However, as the current situation persists and following the consequent legislative measures and other restrictions that have become necessary and additional measure that may be implemented to mitigate the emergency, the company will need to consider taking decisions regarding traffic outside the current operation of the infrastructure network.

At present, it can be assumed that Covid-19 may have an impact primarily on the following business segments:

• infrastructure access services;

• investing activities, specifically work site in progress;

• management of railway stations;

• health services;

• and, in general, all sectors characterised by activities involving a high presence of staff and travellers.

The company is conducting a broad and extensive analysis of the reorganisation of the services to access the infrastructure and the other railway services for passenger and freight transport by the railway companies to reflect the diminished demand described above. It cannot currently rule out the need for the selective, temporary suspension of partial, targeted sections of its operations in certain units at operating and maintenance sites where it is impossible for workers to work remotely.