Infrastructure manager Italian Railway Network (RFI), which is part of FS, has agreed to allocate NTV train paths for services from Rome to Milan and Venice departing from the capital between 0700 and 0800, which RFI has previously vetoed. FS says RFI will seek a solution to traffic conflicts between subsidised regional services and open-access high-speed trains, which was originally given as a reason for not allocating paths to NTV.
At stations, RFI and FS' Grandi Stazioni and Centostazioni subsidiaries must allow the installation of portable customer service desks and self-service ticket machines for NTV within a specified timescale, and reserve spaces for these facilities. They will also be required to give NTV fair access to commercial spaces at stations it serves no later than December 2014, and rental fees and conditions must not discriminate between open-access operators and Trenitalia. Passenger information systems for NTV services will be installed on platforms at Milan Garibaldi and Naples Central.
A 15% reduction in high-speed access charges came into force on September 19 after the government issued a ministerial decree.
