ONE DOWNTOWN TO ANOTHER Barely half a year into service, Italy’s new high speed trains have already cut at least 30% off travel times between some major Italian cities.
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ast December 14th, with the introduction of the new Firenze-Bologna line, we cut half an hour off the time it takes to travel between Roma and Milano. Today you can cover the distance between the two most important cities in Italy in just three hours. And it takes a good fifteen minutes less to travel between Roma Tiburtina and Milano Rogoredo. You can drink your first coffee of the day at a bar outside the Coliseum and still have plenty of time to sit down for lunch, perhaps for a good plate of risotto allo zafferano, in a restaurant outside the Duomo in Milano.” Mauro Moretti, CEO of Ferrovie dello Stato, Italy’s national train system, is appropriately proud of what his company is doing. The timetable that the company initially imposed has been followed to the letter. Trains are becoming increasingly important thanks to the superior service they provide: they travel at speeds of over 300 kilometers per hour, with new trains leaving every fifteen minutes during peak hours, creating a sort of “national subway system.” The Roma-Milano axis is not the only one taking advantage
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of these improvements. Thanks to the completion of an entire high speed network, the trip from Torino to Salerno has become a pleasant voyage lasting less than six hours. Ferrovie dello Stato has taken pains to put the traveler at the center of its project. Tickets are easier to reserve online or via cell phone, stations have been rendered more user-friendly. Trains have been outfitted with more comfortable seating and electric outlets. First class travelers aboard the Eurostar AV Frecciarossa (red arrow) receive a welcoming drink and Italian snacks, as well as a choice of newspapers in the morning. All AV trains provide restaurant and bar services. Plans for improvement extend beyond the Frecciarossa trains. There is also strong growth forecast for the ETR 600 Frecciargento (silver arrow), the youngest train in the company’s fleet, which travels at 250 kilometers per hour throughout northeastern Italy. Starting this December, this train will join the high speed network as well, providing service between Roma and Venezia in just three and a half hours. This should have a considerably positive effect on Venezia’s