New high speed rail service in Italy takes tourists from Rome to Milan in under 3 hours

(AFP PHOTO / GIUSEPPE CACACE)

Train journey times in Italy will soon be sharply reduced thanks to the completion of the state-owned high-speed rail next month.

Trenitalia announced November 13 that it will offer tickets at a discounted introductory rate when they go on sale, December 13.

Italy's Freccia Rossa (Red Arrow) train lines will now attain 360 kilometers per hour (225 miles per hour), thanks to the completion of 25 years of infrastructure improvements on the 1000-kilometer (600-mile) line which spans the length of Italy.

Trenitalia predicts that their two hour, 45 minute Rome to Milan service will be nearly an hour faster than the equivalent domestic flight, including travel to/from the airport and check-in.

Rome to Turin will will take just four hours and ten minutes, slashing one hour 30 minutes off the current time.

Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori (NTV), Italy's first privately-owned high speed train operator, will run services on the same high speed line in direct competition with Trenitalia beginning 2011.

New Train Journey Times (and reductions where information is available)

-    Rome to Turin:  4h10 (-90 minutes)
-    Milan to Naples:  4h10 (-40 minutes)
-    Rome to Milan:  2h45 (-55 minutes)
-    Bologna to Florence:  37 minutes (-22 minutes)
-    Turin to Milan:  60 minutes
-    Rome to Naples:  1hr10
-    Milan to Florence:  1hr45
-    Naples to Milan:  4hr10
-    Rome to Venice:  3h15
-    Rome to Verona:   3hr
-    Rome to Bari:  3hr59
-    Rome to Lamezia:  3hr59

Website: trenitalia.it, ferroviedellostato.it.