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.

A new rail link from the Italian city of Bari to Karol Wojtyla Airport was inaugurated on July 19, when the mayors of seven municipalities served by the Bari – Barletta line attended the opening of the 7km electrified connection.

Preliminary testing is underway of the Frecciarossa 1000, Italy's new 360km/h high-speed train at Bombardier's Vado Ligure plant. Kevin Smith takes an in-depth look at the design features of what will be Europe's fastest high-speed train when it enters service in 2016.

ITALY's newest and Europe's fastest high-speed train, the Frecciarossa 1000, was officially unveiled to the world today at Bombardier's Vado Ligure plant.

TRENITALIA and Alstom hosted an event at Alstom's Savigliano plant in northern Italy on June 25 to give the press, passenger associations, and representatives of the government of Piedmont a first glimpse of the new Coradia Meridian regional emu for Trenitalia.

A cooperation agreement was signed in Zürich on June 14 by the CEO of Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) Mr Andreas Meyer and Italian State Railways (FS) CEO Mr Mauro Moretti.

ITALY's antitrust authority has announced it is launching an investigation into Italian State Railways (FS) and its subsidiaries following allegations by open-access high-speed operator NTV that the national railway has engaged in anticompetitive practices against the newcomer.

DESPITE another difficult year for Italy's economy, Italian State Railways (FS) improved its financial performance for the fifth consecutive year in 2012, with Ebitda rising 7.6% to exceed €1.9bn for the first time and net profits increasing 33.7% to €381m.

THE Swiss Federal Council has approved a scheme to create and finance a project which will allow 4m corner-height semitrailers to be carried on the Gotthard line.

ITALIAN State Railways (FSI) has announced plans for a €1.5bn bond issue to fund major investment projects.