Renato Mazzoncini

Not only is Trainose about to be declared the preferred bidder for 100 percent of railway carriage maintenance company Rosco, but it is now eyeing Greece's urban transport too.

On Friday state sell-off fund TAIPED accepted the improved bid for Rosco, which amounts to 22 million euros.

Italian railway company Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane attributes great significance to the acquisition of 100 percent of Greek operator Trainose, while there will be changes in the operation mode of the local railway company now it is moving away from the state's control.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras (right) and his Italian counterpart Paolo Gentiloni observe as Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane SpA CEO Renato Mazzoncini and the president of Greece's state sell-off fund (TAIPED), Lila Tsitsoyiannopoulou, sign a memorandum sealing the sale of railway service operator Trainose to the Italian company, in the context of the 1st Intergovernmental Congress of Greec

The sale of 100 percent of railway services operator Trainose to Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane (FSI) was formally signed in Athens on Wednesday, in the absence of any cabinet members or journalists, completing a crucial privatization project that rids the state of a loss-making entity.

Unlike most company chiefs in Italy, the head of state railway operator Ferrovie dello Stato says he is not too worried about a December 4 referendum that could unseat Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's government.