The agreement also extends the maintenance term for the eight Pendolino sets ordered by NTV last October from 20 to 30 years.

Each 187m-long seven-car train will seat around 480 passengers. 

The 250km/h trains - branded Eva by NTV - will be built at Alstom's Savigliano plant in northwest Italy and maintained alongside NTV’s fleet of 25 Alstom AGV high-speed trains at the operator’s Nola depot near Naples. The first trains from the initial batch are currently in production and deliveries are due to start in December 2017. The fleet will enter service from March 2018.