MILAN metro operator ATM has commissioned a new €11.5m centralised traffic control centre, which supervises the operation of all lines except the driverless Line 5.

ALMOST 30 years after the project was conceived, the Salerno Metro suburban line was inaugurated on November 4 by the city's Mayor Mr Vincenzo De Luca.

The enhancement and expansion of rail services has been central to the development of the public transport network in the autonomous Italian province of South Tyrol. Thomas Widmann, regional minister for mobility, tells Marco Chiandoni how the province's commitment to rail has been rewarded with rapid growth in ridership.

ITALIAN State Railways (FS) has pledged a number of measures to improve conditions for open-access high-speed operators, responding to the findings of an investigation by the Italian Competition Authority, which concluded that FS subsidiaries had deliberately attempted to exclude competitor NTV from the market.

OPEN access long-distance passenger operator Thello has announced it will withdraw direct overnight services between Paris and Rome from December 15, instead offering improved connections with Trenitalia high-speed services, which it says will reduce journey times between the two capitals.

ITALIAN State Railways (FS) might be asked by the Italian government to become a shareholder in the country's national airline, Alitalia, to help recapitalise it and to take advantage of the synergies between rail and air.

THE first of 70 Coradia Meridian emus for Trenitalia is nearing completion at Alstom's Savigliano plant in northern Italy and is due to be handed over to Trenitalia by the end of October.

MR Giuseppe Sciarrone, CEO of Italian open-access high-speed operator Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori (NTV), issued his resignation on October 2. The company's steering committee has appointed its president Mr Antonello Perricone as his replacement.

THE CEO of Italian State Railways (FS) Mr Mauro Moretti officiated at a ceremony at Milan Central station yesterday to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Pendolino tilting trains in Italy.

THE first two of eight new Stadler Flirt emus purchased by the autonomous Italian province of South Tyrol, local transport authority STA, and Trenitalia at a cost of €69.5m were delivered to Bolzano on September 3.