Trenitalia

Trenitalia SpA

Type	State-owned company
Industry	Rail Transport
Founded	2000
Headquarters	Rome, Italy
Key people	Marco Zanichelli, Presidente (Chairman) Vincenzo Soprano, Amministratore delegato (CEO)
Products	Passenger transport, Freight transport
Revenue	€ 5.71 billion (2010)
Operating income	€ 341.9 million (2010)
Net income	€ 73.1 million (2010)
Employees	39,668 (end 2010)
Parent	Ferrovie dello Stato
Subsidiaries	Thello (50%) Trenord (50%)
Website	ferroviedellostato.it/homepage_en.html

Trenitalia is the primary train operator in Italy. Trenitalia is owned by Ferrovie dello Stato, itself owned by the Italian Government. It was created in the year 2000 following the EU directive on the deregulation of rail transport.

Passenger transport

Trenitalia offers national rail transport in Italy and international connections to Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Slovenia, Spain, and Switzerland. The company operates both local (regional) and long-distance trains.

Regional trains

A Trenitalia Minuetto regional train.

Regional trains travel within a region or between neighboring regions. Trains usually stop at all stations, thus connecting small centers to big cities. Regionale veloce (fast regional) are trains stopping at fewer stations.

Local train rolling stock comprises about 4500 carriages, 850 locomotives and more than 2600 other light rail cars. This includes over 600 E464 class locomotives.

Trenitalia is responsible for the operation of regional passenger trains (co-financed by regions) in all railway lines managed by RFI (also fully owned by Ferrovie dello Stato), except in Lombardy, where Trenord (50% Trenitalia and 50% Ferrovie Nord Milano) operates all regional passenger trains.

Long-distance trains

Long-distance trains are of mainly of four types: the Frecce (arrows), Eurostar Italia trains, Intercity trains and the Espresso (or night Intercity trains). The Frecce are generally considered high-end service and usually connect major cities. There are three types of Frecce:

• Eurostar Italia Alta Velocità Frecciarossa (maximum speed 360 km/h (220 mph)) and Eurostar Italia Alta Velocità Frecciargento (maximum speed 250 km/h (160 mph)), which are high-speed trains and run mainly on high-speed lines;
• Frecciabianca (maximum speed 200 km/h (120 mph)), which run on traditional lines;

Eurostar Italia trains connect Rome with Ravenna and Reggio Calabria.

Intercity trains also serve medium-sized cities besides the big cities, thus are generally slower but are cheaper than the Frecce.

Night trains (Intercity night or Espresso) operate mainly between north and south of Italy and between Italy and its neighbouring countries and are comparable to Intercity level. They offer couchettes and sleeping beds in addition to the usual seats.

High speed lines and trains

Trenitalia ETR 500 Frecciarossa (red arrow) train waiting at a platform of the Milano Centrale railway station.

High-speed rail (managed by RFI) service in Italy commenced in 2008 with about 1,000 km (620 mi) of new track on the Turin-Milan-Bologna-Rome-Naples-Salerno route that allow trains to reach speeds over 360 km/h (220 mph), although current maximum commercial speed is 300 km/h (190 mph). There are currently four generations of ElettroTreno in service on the network.

Trenitalia ordered 50 high speed trainsets in 2010. New trains will be ETR1000 series. They will be 200 metres (660 ft) long, non-articulated trains, with distributed traction, and capable of up to 400 km/h (250 mph) operation, although current service plans are limited to 360 km/h (220 mph). Mauro Moretti, chief executive of FS group, said FS was considering long-distance international services to France, Germany, or even Spain and the UK. The trains are due to enter service from 2013.

International passenger trains

A Trenitalia train in Brig, Switzerland.

Several types of international trains in Italy are usually marketed by separate units, who set ticket prices and service standards but do not operate the trains.

• Artésia: 50% owned by Trenitalia, 50% owned by SNCF, the French railway operator. The company mainly markets TGV services from Paris to Milan and night trains with normal EuroCity carriages from various cities in Italy to Paris. Both the night and day trains are operated by SNCF in France and Trenitalia in Italy. For TGVs, the train engineers, train managers, and ticket collectors change in Modane station, on the French border. The bar is operated all the way through by Cremonini. For night trains, a locomotive change is done as well. The bed carriage staff is operated by an outside company. Currently, the trains do not operate with Artesia colours.

• Elipsos: 50% owned by SNCF, 50% owned by RENFE, the Spanish railway operator. The company's trains are operated by Trenitalia in Italy. Trains run between Milan and Barcelona with RENFE carriages. The staff onboard are all from the Compagnie des Wagons Lits (with Elipsos badges). The train manager is from RENFE throughout the journey, but two Trenitalia staff are present during the journey in Italy for security reasons. The locomotive in Italy is owned and operated by Trenitalia. In Modane the locomotive is changed and an SNCF one is used for the journey through France. From the Spanish border, a RENFE locomotive runs the train to Barcelona. The Elipsos service runs only three times a week between Milan and Barcelona.

• TILO: 50% owned by Trenitalia, 50% owned by SBB CFF FFS The company runs the regional services between Italy and Switzerland. The staff all change at the border and are either FS Trenitalia or SBB CFF FFS.

• Thello: is a private railway service created by a joint venture between Veolia Transdev and Trenitalia. It operate night trains between Paris Gare de Lyon and Venezia Santa Lucia railway station.

Two other brands are not actual divisions, but just names of these trains/services.

• Riviera: Trains between Italy and Nice, France. These trains have been discontinued. Passengers must change at Ventimiglia to catch a train there for Nice.
• Allegro: Trains between Italy and Austria. With the exception of one night train, Rome-Vienna and Venice-Vienna, all Allegro services between Italy and Vienna have been cut. These trains were replaced by buses.

Freight transport

Trenitalia Cargo division transports about 28 billion tons km. Its rolling stock comprises more than 30,000 freight cars. International traffic accounts for the 53% of the total. Trenitalia Cargo operates in Europe in collaboration with other european train operators or with the subsidiary TX Logistik AG, which operates in Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Austria, Switzerland, Netherlands and Hungary.

Online booking

Tickets can be booked online, which ensures passengers a seat and allows them to avoid queues at the station. There is also a discount scheme for advance purchases, ranging from 15% to 60% off the base ticket price. The previous 5% discount for online booking was canceled on December 13, 2009.

As of April 2010, the website only accepts Italian Amex cards. In addition, non-Italian residents have frequently reported difficulties in getting their credit card accepted. For non Italian residents who have a Visa or Mastercard, enrolling in the Verified by Visa scheme and similar for Mastercard before using the site may increase the chances of a successful transaction.

Holding in other railways

Trenitalia is a stake holder in the operation of the Alpine Rail Motorway (ARM) between France and Italy along with SNCF.

Controversies

Passenger segregation

In early 2012, Trenitalia released a web commercial to promote its change from two classes of passenger carriages (first and second), into four classes. Passengers travelling by the fourth, lowest class are not permitted to use the on-board cafeteria or enter the carriages reserved for better-off passengers. This change alone reportedly caused controversy, but more followed with release of the accompanying web advertisement. The web ad showed only white people seated in the upper three classes; and a family of color in the fourth, lowest class, where they are segregated from other passengers on-board the train according to the new system. Italian online media observed this and branded the advertisement as "grotesque", and other complaints of racism discrimination followed in UK newspapers, social media and online. Trenitalia withdrew the web commercial, and quickly substituted it following the allegations of racism. Since 13 January 2012 the cafeteria is accessible also for passengers of lower classes.

See also

• Ferrovie dello Stato
• Rail transport in Italy

External links

Media related to Trenitalia at Wikimedia Commons

• Ferrovie dello Stato (English)
• Ferrovie dello Stato (Italian)
• Italian Railway Information
• Real-time train tracking - Trenitalia