Transport min. to urge new FS chief to solve Trenord issues

(ANSA) - Rome, July 27 - Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli on Friday said he would call on the new CEO of Ferrovie dello Stato (FS), the Italian state railways company, to resolve issues concerning trains in the northern part of the country.
    "Lombardy commuters deserve to travel on comfortable and punctual trains. And Trenord does not guarantee this. I will immediately tell the new FS CEO to take action," he said in a tweet. "We must hold concessionaries to account," he added. The new CEO of FS will be named by the government by July 31.
    On Wednesday the minister, a leading member of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S), announced he had sacked the board of FS and halted a planned merger between FS and motorway company ANAS.
    The CEO that was fired, Renato Mazzoncini said Thursday that his dismissal as the CEO of Ferrovie dello Stato (FS) along with the rest of the board of the Italian rail company was down to the "decision of the new government to apply the spoils system".
    "Today the company is worth 2% of the country's GDP and employs 81,000 people directly and 240,000 indirectly," he added. Transport ministry sources rejected Mazzoncini's assertion, saying the decision to fire the board was linked to the failure to apply an ethical clause relating to the CEO position.