Ferrotramviaria S.p.A. is a railway and bus operator and infrastructure manager that holds a “Service Contract” with the local “Regione Puglia” authority.

Through this contract Ferrotramviaria S.p.A. is committed to manage the 83 km long infrastructure with electrified standard gauge of the “Ferrovie del Nord Barese” (North Bari Railways) and to provide services on said infrastructure in excess of 1.921.000 trains km per year and 850.000 bus km per year.

The railway line between Bari and Barletta provides a link through the main towns north west of Bari, serving a catcment area of 700.000 people over a 1.400 km2 region. The current infrastructure was completed in 1965, with standard gauge and overhead electification. An infrastructure overhaul was started at the beginning of the 1990s. The line has now been doubled for 35 km between the stations of Fesca San Girolamo and Ruvo, for a further 7 km along the path from the crossroads FR2 Fesca to the fitting crossroad S. Spirito and for 5 km along the appendix for district S. Paolo.

In 2012 Ferrotramviaria started working on the doubling of another 8 km between Ruvo and Corato and the construction of a chord between Fesca San Girolamo and the RFI mainline so trains will be able to stop at Bari Centrale RFI station; by 2015 the doubling of the entire line should be completed. In 2013 the line was started being fitted with the SCMT safety traffic control technology, so the line will be entirely interoperable with RFI. The infrastructure overhaul, the opening of the Bari San Paolo Branch, the increase in production (from about 40 trains per day in 2003 to about 200 trains per day in 2011) and the high level of punctuality have concurred to a constant growth in passenger numbers, from 3.5 m in 2003 to nearly 7 m in 2012.
From 2013, with the opening of the Bari Palese airport loop, these numbers are expected to grow even further; moreover the completion of the doubling of the line and the interconnection with RFI will possibly help Ferrotramviaria achieve the ambitious target of 12 m passengers by 2018.

Ferrotramviaria S.p.A. has recently undertaken a modernization program for its rolling stock. Between 2004 and 2009 the company purchased and started operating 16 electric trains: 12 “Coradia” by Alstom with fixed composition: 6 of them with 3 units and 6 with 4 units and 4 “FLIRT” by Stadler, approved for circulation on RFI, all made of 4 units. As of today, the fleet has been enriched with 5 new Caf electric trains.

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