Description
The Esercizio Raccordi Ferroviari of Porto Marghera (ERF) is a mixed public-private joint-stock company, controlled on the public side by the Port System Authority of the Northern Adriatic Sea.
The railway of Porto Marghera was first conceived on 12 June 1917, when a Royal Decree established the need for an industrial port company, with Count Giuseppe Volpi as President. The so-called Società Porto Industriale (which was later renominated Raccordi Ferroviari S.p.a.) was closed down in 1973. What is still known today as the Esercizio Raccordi Ferroviari of Porto Marghera Spa (ERF) was created in its place. At the time, the biggest shareholder was the joint-stock company Montedison, which held the largest chemical plant in Europe.
In 2008, the company incorporated Servizi Ferroviari Ltd, which operated on the harbor island of Marghera and, therefore, became the company of the port of Venice entrusted with the general port shunting service. Given the establishment of this one main network, the secondary maneuvers carried out in the industrial and port sectors were unified.
As regards the port sector, the ERF is the holder of the general railway shunting service in the port of Venice, pursuant to art. 6 L. 84/94 and of art. 1 MD of 4 April 1996, according to which the railway service carried out within the port areas is included among the services of general interest to be provided in exchange of payment to port users.
As regards the industrial sector, the ERF is also the operator and licensee of the railway infrastructure, which acts upon properties belonging to the Municipality.
In both cases, the ERF carried out this secondary shunting maneuver until December 2016.
Since 2014, the ERF has been the sole operator of the plant of the Venezia Marghera Scalo (Venice-Marghera layover), where it carried out the primary shunting service until December 2016.
