The total value of the world market for signalling is valued at1 5,250 million euros of which approximately 4,600 million euros are of interest for the ANSALDO STS Group: Western Europe represents about 50% of the market, followed by North America with 14% and the Asian/ Pacific regions with 12%.

The signalling market trend principally depends on the investment policies adopted by the various countries of reference in the transport sector. ANSALDO STS expects an average annual growth in the global market for about 4.5% over the next six years (until 2012). This forecast particularly refers to the introduction of the ERTMS standards in Western Europe and to intense infrastructure development; to the realization of new investments in the Asian/Pacific markets; to the potential development of the Eastern European countries; and the increase of fright transport in North America.

The area with the highest rate of development is Asia/Pacific where the annual growth of the demand is on average 7.8%, followed by Western Europe with a forecast annual increase of demand of 7%. In Western Europe the annual growth is estimated for 3.2% and led by the need to conform to the new EU ERTMS standards to the infrastructure while in North America the estimated annual growth is 3.7% and is mainly linked to the development of freight transport.

Over the last five years, the world market for underground systems has had an average annual value of 1.4 billion euros, principally concentrated in Europe (approximately 0.6 billion euros of which 0.2 billion euros in Italy) and in the Asian/Pacific areas (approximately 0.5 billion euros). ANSALDO STS expects this market to increase to 2.4 billion euros as an annual average, between 2005 and 2010 of which 1.1 billion in Europe (approximately 0.4 billion euros only in Italy) for the potential development of Eastern countries and about 1.0 billion euros for Asia/Pacific, mainly on the basis of the increased urbanization and the strong economic growth in Asian/Pacific areas.

In the sector of railway systems, if on one hand some of the programmes can be subject to slowdowns in the case of a lack in allocation of the necessary financial resources, it is to be emphasised that the establishment of Corridor 5 (the line between Lisbon and Kiev) among the EU priorities, should guarantee that the funds destined for the Italian railways (at least regarding the Bussoleno Torino and Mestre-Trieste tracts) will be activated in the near future. In particular, the total amount of projects relating to the tracts assigned in Italy is for about 30 billion euros of which 6 billion concern technology.