New Freccia Rossa high-speed train unveiled at Berlin fair

Will link Milan and Rome in under 2.5 hours

(ANSA) - Berlin, September 23 - The first of a new fleet of high-speed Freccia Rossa (Red Arrow) ETR 1000 trains was unveiled Tuesday at the InnoTrans international transport technology trade fair in the German capital- In Italy, the new Freccia Rossa will make its debut with an inaugural run May 1 to coincide with the opening of Milan Expo 2015. The train will enter into service in mid-June, connecting Rome and Milan in under 2.5 hours.

Made by Bombardier Transportation and AnsaldoBreda under a joint venture, the new ETR 1000 will have a commercial speed of 360 km/h, making it the fastest train in Europe. This compares with the 300 km/h reached by the ERF 500 Freccia Rossa trains currently in service between Salerno in the south and Milan in the north. The new trains will gradually enter into service between 2015 and 2017, to a total of 50 trains acquired by Italy's Trenitalia rail service for 1.5 billion euros.