High-speed rail in Italy
Passenger service is provided by Trenitalia and, since April 2012, by NTV, the world's first private open-access operator of high-speed rail to compete with a state-owned monopoly.
High-speed service was introduced on the Rome-Milan line in 1988–89 with the ETR 450 Pendolino train, with a top speed of 250 km/h (160 mph) and cutting travel times from about 5 hours to 4.
The ETR 500 Mercitalia Fast train carries freight between Caserta and Bologna in 3 hours and 30 minutes, at an average speed of 180 km/h (110 mph).
[9][10] The main public operator of high-speed trains (alta velocità AV, formerly Eurostar Italia) is Trenitalia, part of FSI.
The 182 km (113 mi) line runs parallel to the Autostrada del Sole, crossing seven provinces and 32 municipalities.
The line travels through a new multi-level station at Bologna (Italy's principal railway junction) designed by Japanese architect Arata Isozaki.
The Bologna-Florence high-speed section was particularly complex to build mainly because about 93% of its 78.5 km (48.8 mi) runs through tunnels under the Apennines mountain range.
Florence will have a major new multi-level high speed station at Belfiore designed by British architect Norman Foster.
In the Campania region, the line passes through Afragola where a major new transfer station has been built, designed by Iraqi-born architect Zaha Hadid.
To minimize its environmental impact on the area, almost the entire length of the Turin to Milan high-speed line was constructed parallel to the A4 Turin-Milan motorway.
[31] Palermo and Catania, Sicily's largest cities, are currently connected by a single-track railway which limits speed and capacity of the line.
Currently works are under way to achieve higher speeds and a double-track layout, with the first section of 38 km (24 mi) being under construction between Bicocca and Catenanuova.
Eventually, further improvements as part of the entire €8 billion project will enable a maximum speed of 250 km/h (155 mph) on the line.
[34] The Turin–Lyon line will connect Turin, Lyon and Chambéry, and join the Italian and the French high speed rail networks.
[37][38] The Brenner Base Tunnel will link Verona, Innsbruck, and Munich, and thus connect the Italian, Austrian and German railways.
The tunnel is the most important link in a series of projects that will create a single connection from Berlin in Germany to Palermo in Sicily as part of the Trans-European Transport Networks.
The total costs of the tunnel are estimated at €8.4 billion, of which 40% is co-financed in equal measure by Italy and Austria and 50% by the European Union.
