Un train to connect Europe and connect people, countries and businesses with the ultimate sustainable, safe and affordable means of transport. Connecting Europe Express has arrived in Rome, the European convoy that departed from Lisbon on 2 September as part of the European Year of Railways 2021 and will conclude its journey in Paris on 7 October after crossing 26 countries and over 100 cities.
To welcome him, in the Roma Ostiense station, Enrico Giovannini, Minister of Infrastructure and Sustainable Mobility, and Luigi Ferraris, Chief Executive Officer of Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, who commented as follows: “The EU Commission, as part of the Green Deal, has completed the process of opening up the European railway market. This means opportunities for travelers and for the Italian railways: in fact, we will soon be running our high-speed trains in Spain, where starting from 2022, we will guarantee, through the company ILSA, up to 74 daily connections, of which 32 on the Madrid-Barcelona route. In France by the end of the year, the offer of high-speed services will be launched on the Milan-Turin-Lyon-Paris route, with 5 Frecciarossa 1000s. We have strengthened our presence in Great Britain, also thanks to the assignment of the concession to manage one of the sections major railways in the UK, the London-Glasgow, to which the high-speed London-Birmingham-Manchester will be added. In Greece finally we are about to activate new high-speed services between Athens and Thessaloniki".
It will travel over 20 kilometers Connecting Europe Express in five weeks of travel through 33 border crossings. A journey that bears witness to the importance of a single rail market without barriers, sustainable and capable of reducing distances. The initiative aims to symbolically unite all the countries touched by the Connecting Europe Express to raise citizens' awareness of EU infrastructure and mobility policies, through meetings and events on board the train and in the stations. Many Italian stops: from Turin Porta Nuova, from where the train left on Monday 6 September, to Milan Central Station, Genoa Piazza Principe up to Rome Ostiense. The train will then go up towards the Alps, stopping in Vaiano, near Prato, Nogara, in the Verona area, Verona Porta Nuova and Bolzano. Thursday 9 the stage at Brennero, the northernmost station in Italy.
The initiative was born out of collaboration between the European Commission, the Community of European Railways (CER), European railway operators, infrastructure managers and many other partners at local and EU level. Connecting Europe Express uses three different convoys. The carriages of the train that arrived in Rome Ostiense, pulled by Trenitalia (a company of the FS Italiane Group), were supplied by six European railway companies: Trenitalia, MAV (Hungary), SNCF (France), DB (Germany), SBB (Switzerland) and ÖBB (Austria).
