The RIGI reaches the railways

Amends the RIGI Regulation (Annex I to Decreto 749/2024) on two points, and both widen the regime without touching the law. (1) RAILWAY INFRASTRUCTURE — Section 1 adds to Art. 3, subsection n), item (iii), point 1 that «in the case of railway infrastructure, construction shall be understood as the execution of new infrastructure, and the renewal, replacement, transformation or development of existing infrastructure and of the ancillary infrastructure». The operative text does not list the works, but the recitals do: new alignments, track duplication, track renewal, reactivation of out-of-service branch lines, full renewal of bridges and culverts, automatic or semi-automatic signalling, associated telecommunications and power, electrification, active protection at level crossings, grade-separated crossings, and freight logistics — logistics hubs, dry ports, deconsolidation and transfer centers, and marshalling and classification yards. ⚠️ WHAT IS LEFT OUT is written just as plainly: work «limited to the conservation or maintenance of existing infrastructure». (2) WHEN WORK ON AN EXISTING LINE COUNTS AS AN EXPANSION — Section 2 replaces Art. 60 and, for railways, requires a «verifiable increase in the transport capacity» relative to the capacity in place before the project, determined «quantitatively on the basis of objective technical parameters». (3) AND IN THE SAME SECTION, A LEG THAT IS NOT RAILWAY-RELATED: for the Technology Sector there is now also an expansion when production of a NEW PRODUCT is added, subject to three concurrent conditions — innovation with differences in at least 50% of its components measured by economic value, a minimum computable investment of USD 250 million, and a market useful life of 10 years or less, evidenced by a Useful Life Technical Report issued by a competent and independent professional. verif · Aug 18, 2026 ↗

Section 3 states that «this decree shall come into force on the day of its publication in the OFFICIAL GAZETTE». Published on August 18, 2026 (notice 345955) ⇒ it has been in force since that day. verif · Aug 18, 2026 ↗

Holders of railway projects —freight and associated infrastructure— seeking to join the RIGI, and in particular anyone investing in EXISTING track, for whom it was not written down until now whether that counted. Downstream it reaches the supply chain those works contract: track and civil works, signalling, railway telecommunications, electrification, bridges and engineering structures, and freight logistics (hubs, dry ports, marshalling yards). And through the Technology leg, pre-existing projects that add a new product with at least USD 250 million in computable investment. verif · Aug 18, 2026 ↗