Lodi high-speed derailment: court sentences over 2020 crash

The Lodi high-speed derailment has resulted in first-instance prison sentences for three defendants over the February 2020 crash involving a Frecciarossa 1000 train near Lodi, according to RailTech. Two Alstom engineers were acquitted.

This is reported by the railway transport news portal Railway Supply.

Five years ago, a Milan–Salerno Frecciarossa travelling at 298 km/h derailed near Livraga, outside Lodi, shaking Italy’s high-speed rail network; an account of the incident was published by Railway Gazette International. Two drivers were killed and 31 other people were injured. The investigation that followed examined switch maintenance, testing protocols, and the lack of automated checks designed to verify signalling logic.

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Court ruling in Lodi and the defendants

The verdict was read out earlier this week in Lodi, in front of a packed courtroom. Presiding judge Angelo Gin Tibaldi confirmed convictions for a former executive at infrastructure manager Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI) and two Alstom workers, assigning criminal accountability for failures linked to the derailment.

The most severe sentence—three years and two months in prison—went to Valerio Giovine, who at the time served as RFI’s production director. Prosecutors had requested two years and 10 months.

An Alstom temporary worker, Mario Caccioppoli, received two years and eight months after he was identified as the material author of an assembly error at Alstom’s Florence plant, where two switch actuator wires were inverted. Giovanni Iantorno, an Alstom tester, was sentenced to two years and 10 months for failing to detect the defective assembly during testing.

Two other Alstom workers—Andrea Morganti, responsible for testing procedures, and Francesco Muscatello—were acquitted for lack of evidence. Charges in the case included negligent rail disaster, double manslaughter and multiple bodily harm.

What happened near Livraga outside Lodi?

The derailment occurred at around 05:30 on 6 February 2020 near switch 5 at Livraga, in the Lower Lodi area close to Milan. The leading power car was deflected onto a dead-end track, killing drivers Giuseppe Cicciù, 51, and Mario Dicuonzo, 59, instantly.

Automatic braking prevented a wider catastrophe, but ten passengers suffered serious injuries. The victims’ families were present as the decision was delivered, and emotions ran high in the courtroom. Federico Dicuonzo, the son of Mario Dicuonzo, said the tragedy “could have been avoided” and warned it “could have been a massacre”, adding that while he respected the court’s work, not all those responsible had faced trial.

Causes, earlier convictions, and Alstom’s response

Liability for the crash has been pursued through multiple legal tracks. The victims’ families were not civil parties in the criminal proceedings, having already received compensation through separate civil cases. That left trade union Filt Cgil Lombardia—represented by lawyer Ettore Zanoni—as the only civil party in court.

The case also followed earlier fast-track proceedings. In July 2023, two RFI maintenance workers who replaced the Livraga switch actuator hours before the derailment were convicted and, after appeal, were given suspended sentences of one year and eight months.

In its reasoning, the Lodi prosecutor’s office described a chain of failures rather than a single fault. It identified three primary causes: a defective switch actuator manufactured by Alstom; insufficient training for RFI maintenance staff on alignment tests; and, more broadly, the absence of automatic control systems capable of verifying the correct functioning of signalling logic nationwide—points also set out in the Italian Ministry of Sustainable Infrastructure and Mobility investigation report (PDF).

Alstom said it would study the ruling once the full reasoning is published. The company reiterated its commitment to safety and compliance, said it aims to strengthen internal controls and maintain the highest standards, and added that its thoughts remain with the victims and their families.

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