Another excellent opportunity to discover or re-visit Italy’s treasures!
Rail Europe is offering a 20% reduction on the Trenitalia Pass, which is valid for reservations made between 1st October and 31 December 2006 for travellers wishing to visit Italy between 1st November 2006 and 31st March 2007.
The Trenitalia Pass is not available in Italy, so buy before you fly and take advantage of this fabulous promotion!
Countries looking to develop their high speed rail strategies have several potential solutions, including introducing tilting trains, which offer more speed using existing lines or building new speed lines for dedicated high speed train services. Obviously, cost is oftentimes a major concern, but nowadays, saturation on existing lines is also a factor. Tilting trains have been mooted as a fast and less expensive option to high speed services, simply because of the cost involved in building new lines.
In many countries, existing rail lines date from the 19th century and were built to cater for speeds up to 80km trains per hour, fast at the time, but nothing compared to the 300km of some high speed trains today,
notably in France. Tilting trains take the existing lines into consideration in their design and therefore are designed to “tilt” in sharp bends, so that passengers on board can enjoy speed without being thrown against the sides of the train in sharp bends. They can run at speeds up to 230 km/h. For the amateur, the difference between tilting trains and high speed or regular trains is the centrifugal force on tilting trains means that they tilt on corners.
Several countries have opted for the tilting trains and they include Amtrack, in the US with Acela Express, the ICE-T trains in Germany, the Pendolino in Italy, the Talgo in Spain, the X2000 in Sweden, the Intercity trains in Switzerland and the Cisalpino between Switzerland and Italy. Time savings are quite high compared with regular train services and travellers to Germany, Scandinavia, Switzerland, Italy and Spain, as well as some of the Eastern European countries, will enjoy their continental holiday without perhaps knowing that they are travelling on a tilting train.
However, some countries are now facing saturation on their existing lines and tilting trains, whilst they go faster than regular trains, have to contend with existing trains on the lines – freight trains, regular trains, night trains – and use the lines accordingly.
The alternative approach means investing in separate high speed lines and high speed trains. Due to saturation, this strategy, whilst involving initial heavy financial commitment and time to building new lines, does mean that there are dedicated high speed lines which are separate from the regular trains, including slower freight or night trains. Therefore, high speed trains can run long distances making fewer stops and maintaining high speeds over longer distances.
French Railways made the high speed choice over twenty years ago and over the years has built up its high speed network, so that Lyons is 2 hours from Paris and Marseilles a mere 3 hours. Had the French Railways opted for the tilting trains, time savings on a 4 hour Lyons-Paris trip would only have been shortened by about 10 minutes.
Travellers to Italy can now enjoy shorter journey times when planning trips to Italy’s prime destinations. For visitors wishing to include Naples and its attractions (Vesuvio, Pompeii etc) in the Roman leg of their trip, the new high speed service puts Naples a mere hour and twenty seven minutes away.
Work commenced on this line back in 1994 and 90% of the high speed link is completed. Italy’s rich past came once again to the fore as over 23 archaeological sites were discovered during the work phases on the Rome-Naples line which meant rail works progressed alongside exploratory digs. The remaining 20km will be finished by 2008, when the high speed line links are connected in to the neapolitan metropolitan services. This new hub central station, planned at Naples-Afragola, will also be a regional link to stations in the heel and toe of the peninsula.
The overall Italian high speed line will resemble a T, with an west-east link from Turin through to the Adriatic port of Trieste, which will link in to the Slovenian line to Eastern Europe, and on the western side linking in to the French service into Lyon and onwards. Plans to link the port of Genoa to Milan are underway, which will in turn link into Trieste. In this way the principle business and tourist sites in Italy are or will be linked with high speed services, offering travellers major time savings on reaching their destinations and removing the hassle-factor of reaching overcrowded airports.
The Italian Railways confirmed their participation as official sponsors for the 2006 Olympic Games in Turin and at the same time presented the transport plan for the event. The high speed line between Turin and Novara will open the beginning of February and in addition to this, 38 daily supplementary trains will be added between Turin Lingotto and Val Chisone. A further 79 extra trains will be added on the Turin-Val de Suze line. Departures will leave from Turin every 30 minutes, bringing spectators to the Pinerolo, Oulx and Bardoneccia Olympic sites. The Italian Railways have modernised four train stations on the Turin-Pinerolo line for the Games.
Overseas travellers coming to Italy specially for the Olympic Games should contact their agent for information on Trenitalia Pass or point to point tickets.
Europe’s high speed network continues its tentacular spread. Initially instigated by the French and German railways, over twenty years ago, Spain, Italy and the UK are catching up and making up for lost years with a growing network. It is interesting to see how each country has developed its concept of high speed, in terms of infrastructure, rolling stock and service areas. The 5th Eurailspeed Congress, recently held in Milan, provided an excellent opportunity to review the high speed services in operation and preview developments for the coming years.
In Germany, the focus is on connectivity. ICE services stop between major towns and cities within 150 km of each other on a given route. As a result, speeds rarely surpass 300km and only for a short time. Reservations are not obligatory on these services.
The French concept of high speed is to compete directly with the airlines. With direct services between Paris-Marseille (800 km apart) travelling at speeds of over 300kms, the three hour journey has eaten into airline market share.
The Spanish Railways, Renfe, opted for the latest ICE design for the Madrid-Barcelona a high speed service with a focus on passenger comfort.
The Netherlands announced, however, that the high speed line from Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp will not commence service in 2007 but in 2008.
The year 2007 will see many new projects enter into commercial service, Eurostar’s new terminal at St. Pancras, the TGV East will bring Strasbourg and Nancy much closer to Paris and stretch through to Germany...we shall keep you informed on a regular basis on progress on these projects.
The UIC (International Union for Railways) has participated actively in moving forward the trans-national developments for the European railways. As part of the move to integrate these services across Europe, signaling and power are being adapted and standardised to ensure smooth passage from one country’s system to another. On the ticketing side, Eurostar and Thalys plan to issue joint tickets in 2006. This alliance will benefit travellers to the World Cup matches in Germany. We will keep you informed in future issues of the Press Release.
Lastly, financing new lines and material is also on the UIC agenda, with Western European railways show-casing choices made to enable their Eastern European counterparts prepare for the extension of lines into their regions.
The future for travellers using high speed services in Europe is due to improve even more.
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