FOLLOWING extensive public consultation, Lyon Turin Railway (LTF) presented the final draft of plans for the cross-border section of the new Lyon – Turin line to Italy's Minister of Economic Development, Infrastructure and Transport Mr Corrado Passera at a meeting of Italy's higher council of public works on January 31.

NEW figures released by Trenitalia show ridership on the operator's Freccia high-speed services increased 6.5% last year to reach a record 38.9 million passengers, despite the launch of NTV's competing Italo services.

SWISS intermodal operator Hupac is counting the cost of the reduced economic demand, disruptions to traffic on Switzerland's Gotthard Line, and high competitive pressures from road, which collectively contributed to a 10.7% decrease in lorry trailers and swapbodies carried last year to 646,214 units.

ITALY's prime minister Mr Mario Monti officially inaugurated Turin Porta Susa station on January 14 marking completion of a project to rebuild and expand the station to provide the city with a high-speed rail hub.

ITALIAN open-access high-speed operator NTV is to launch a new service between Milan and the Adriatic Coast this summer in the first expansion outside its orignal network.

ITALIAN open-access high-speed operator NTV announced the results for its first eight months of operation on January 7, revealing it carried more than 2 million passengers on its Italo services from its launch on April 28 to the end of December.

THE Board of Trenord, the 50:50 joint venture company formed by Trenitalia and North Milan Railways (FNM) in 2011, announced on November 29 it is to exercise options for an additional 23 regional multiple units from two suppliers at a cost of €190m.

THE Italian region of Tuscany is to award Pesa a €48m contract to supply 10 dmus, which will be used by Trenitalia on non-electrified lines in the region.

NTV, Italy's first open-access high-speed operator, has got off to a flying start with traffic higher than forecast. But as managing director Giuseppe Sciarrone explained to David Briginshaw at InnoTrans, revenue is lower than expected due to the poor state of the Italian economy.

THE City of Rome has signed a €113m contract with CAF to supply 15 six-car metro trains and maintain them for five years.