Milan, 10 December 2019
Greater coverage of metropolitan areas, with 162 new Frecce stops in the hubs of Milan, Rome, Naples and the Mediopadana area. Reduction of plastic on board the Frecce and in the Freccia Lounge, and Silence areas also extended to the Standard level. The new regional trains continue to be delivered together with the expansion of services on InterCity connections.
From Sunday 15 December 2019, Trenitalia's offer will be even more personalised, dynamic and attentive to meet all the needs of people travelling.
The innovations, services and connections provided in the 2019-2020 Trenitalia winter timetable were illustrated today in Milan by the CEO and General Manager of FS Italiane, Gianfranco Battisti, Chairman and CEO of Trenitalia, Tiziano Onesti and Orazio Iacono, together with Paolo Attanasio and Sabrina De Filippis, respectively Director of the Long Haul and Regional Passengers Division.
Seven thousand trains a day, one leaving every 12 seconds. This is Trenitalia's offer with 6,500 regional routes, 297 Frecce (Frecciarossa, Frecciargento, Frecciabianca), 108 InterCity Day and Night and up to 20 FrecciaLink services meeting the needs of those who choose the train for work, study, leisure and tourism. In addition to these are 32 EuroCity and eight Euronight, linking Italy and Europe.
The FS Italiane Group is constantly committed to promoting environmental sustainability by encouraging people to choose green modes of transport and promoting a culture attentive to the needs of the planet. The drive to reduce plastic on board Trenitalia's Frecce is part of this project, where travellers will find glass bottles, paper cups and wooden stirrers for coffee.
The new 2019-2020 winter timetable will see more deliveries of the new regional Rock and Pop trains. After the more than 70 trains delivered in Emilia-Romagna, Veneto, Liguria, Sicily and Marche, commuters in the other regions will also be able to use the new generation trains, thanks to the delivery of another 132 new trains, part of the 600 planned. In 2020, it will also be possible to purchase regional tickets in contactless mode through the ticket readers present in the station.
The development of regional connections to link the country's stations, airports and ports is also essential. In addition, 24 intermodal projects were launched in 2019 alone, with a further 40 planned for next year. Lastly, the focus continues on travel for leisure and tourism on regional trains with the Travel Book, the series Itinerari di pAssaggio and a guide for school trips.
There's also something new for anyone who prefers to travel in peace and quiet on the Frecce: the Silence area, with its 13,000 seats per day, has been extended to offer more space and availability at Standard as well as at Business level. These services are in addition to the Frecce Portal, which has a new, simpler and more intuitive design, offering more content for over 200 hours of free entertainment. From January 2020, you will also be able to book items from the Bar/Bistro through the Frecce portal and receive them comfortably in your place, while in December we will be trialling a virtual reality content service provided through visors on the Frecciarossa between Rome and Milan.
Internet also travels at high speed thanks to Wi-Fi Fast, an innovative multi-operator system for fast and stable navigation, present on over 70% of Frecciarossa 1000 trains and 100% of Frecciargento 700 trains. The technology facilitates aggregating the bandwidth capacity of multiple 3G and 4G telephone operators, allowing passengers to navigate at a higher speed and in a more stable and continuous manner.
The Frecce range is increasing in metropolitan areas with over 300 stops a day in Milan (+85) and Rome (+26), 150 in Naples (+33) and 76 in Reggio Emilia (+18), freeing cities from private transport and allowing easy interconnections with other urban and metropolitan transport modes.
There are also ten new fast connections between Venice, Padua, Bologna and Rome and better coverage between Milan and Venice connected every day by 48 Frecce. The 104 Frecciarossa services running between Rome and Milan and the new service between Bolzano and Milan with stops in Trento and Verona have been confirmed. New stops have also been introduced in Ferrara (+16) and Rovigo (+4) to and from Rome, Florence and Venice.
Late evening Frecciarossa connections from Turin to Milan and vice versa on weekends and from Milan to Bologna on Wednesdays and Thursdays are among the new features of Trenitalia's winter timetable. From January, moreover, there will be a new weekend departure for evening returns from Naples to Rome. In addition, as part of tourism development, connections to Oulx and Bardonecchia from Naples, Rome, Florence, Bologna and Milan will be available over the weekend to meet the demand from travellers to the mountains.
The Intercity Giorno fleet also continues to be renewed with the introduction of new services: snack area and vending machines, bicycle racks (6 seats) and dedicated stroller space. With the new timetable, the process of restyling will continue with new locomotives and the modernisation of the couchettes and sleeping cars to increase travel comfort and service reliability.