ITALY'S GALLOPING IRON HORSE
Trenitalia, Italy’s national railway, introduced a new high-speed rail service last month.
The service, which runs between Naples and Milan, reduces travel time from Rome to Milan to three and a half hours. The train takes 65 minutes to travel from Milan to Bologna, 2 hours 10 minutes between Milan and Florence, and 4 hours 50 minutes between Naples and Milan. New perks aboard the high-speed line include free newspapers, beverages and snacks. Americans can make reservations for the Trenitalia high-speed trains (and all other services) through www.italiarail.com.
Rail leaders say the new service could draw as much as 60 percent of the 3.7 million passengers who fly each year on Europe’s second-busiest air route. That’s what is happening between Madrid and Barcelona, where high-speed trains are rapidly reducing the 950-plus weekly flights on Europe’s busiest route.