“The most beautiful train in the world”: like this the CEO of Trenitalia, Barbara Morgante, defined the Frecciarossa1000, the jewel of the Italian railways capable of covering the distance between Rome and Milan in 2h.20 and which from Sunday 11 June, when the Trenitalia summer plan will start, will double its capacity in four trips a day between Turin and Naples (those at peak times), joining two trains and thus creating 900 seats. “Just recently – added Morgante – we completed the fleet of this model which has nothing to envy on a world level: the 50th model was delivered and all the homologation tests were passed”.
But that's not the only novelty of what promises to be a hot summer for Trenitalia and for all Italians traveling by train. Hot in the sense of intense, full of novelties and options, because the challenge to be launched is more clear than ever: after conquering part of what used to be the air market (railway traffic on the Rome-Milan route grew further in the first months of 2017, also taking advantage of the Alitalia crisis), now the goal is to compete with cars and buses. And therefore, remaining on the main route, which connects the "two capitals" of Italy, the daily connections will become almost 100 (97 to be precise, including two new fast runs).
The Naples-Milan and Rome-Naples connections also increase, while the Adriatic axis is also enhanced with a new Pescara-Milan connection. And then Trenitalia focuses strongly on the South: the connection between Milan and Salerno will have new runs and above all will last almost an hour less (from 5h26 to 4h49), and by the summer two new fast runs between Bari and Rome will bring eight Frecciargento between the two cities. But most of all on 6 June the new Naples-Afragola station will be inaugurated, entirely dedicated to high speed and which will be a real hub, with 18 Frecce trains passing through every day: the new station, from which Italo trains will also pass, is designed by the late British architect Zaha Hadid.
However, there is not only the South: Trenitalia, which recently entered the UK market and is also present in France, is also looking to Europe. The inauguration of the Gotthard tunnel (an infrastructure built entirely by the Swiss transport office) made it possible, for example, to cover the Zurich-Milan section in 2016h3 starting from December 30 (compared to the 4 hours it took before), thus allowing for an increase in rail passengers between Italy and Switzerland of 9% in the first months of 2017. Starting from June, Zurich will also be connected with Venice.
However, there are not only the Frecce in Trenitalia's challenge to the car: "A third of the trains on which 10 million people have traveled in the last 600 years, or on average every Italian at least 10 times, are Intercity", recalls Barbara Morgante . Thanks also to an agreement with the Ministry of Transport, the company has dedicated to the Intercity investments on the fleet for 300 million euros, increasing not only the destinations but also the quality of the on-board service, both in the day and in the night, starting with the bar and cleaning. Among the new Intercity destinations, several locations in the South once again stand out, many of which are tourist (the details of the new connections): “We want to take people to the beach and on holiday by train, and no longer by car”, said the CEO at the conference in Milan. Some of them, from the Marches to Calabria, will also see an agreement with hoteliers for the summer: if the stay is at least one week, the hotel will reimburse the outward journey by train, if it is at least two weeks it will also reimburse the return .
And then there is the FRECCIAlink network, which competes with buses as well as cars: in times of Flixbus, guaranteeing intermodal connections with cities that are not reached by an effective railway connection (think of Matera but also of Potenza, Perugia, Siena, Sorrento, Cortina d'Ampezzo), is even more important. So far, 40 customers have used this service, which in fact makes connections even more widespread: “We cover 200 cities across the country by train, we get practically everywhere and 95% of customers are satisfied with the service. We offer 186 train seats every day”, recalls a document illustrated by Morgante.
There is also digitization: 30 million tickets are sold online, doubled in the first months of 2017 and now represent half of the tickets sold. “We also have a loyal clientele of 6,3 million subscribers, through the CARTAFRECCIA card, I think that no one in Italy boasts such numbers”.
Last but not least, there are the prices: those will remain the same, not always sustainable for everyone except for offers, but for the summer there is great news, for young people and not only. "Pass X Te" was born on July 99st: with a single ticket, at a cost of 26 euros for the under 129s and XNUMX euros for everyone else, you can travel without limit throughout Italy, on any train, throughout the summer. On one condition: that the train is taken on weekends, i.e. from midnight on Friday to midnight on Sunday. For those who also want to bring a dog (outside the carrier) in August, it costs only 5 euros. And children up to 15 travel for free as always. Why take the car?
