The Caravaggio is an

electric multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number ...

(EMU) developed and built by

Hitachi Rail Italy Hitachi Rail Italy S.p.A. is a multinational rolling stock manufacturer company based in Pistoia, Italy. Formerly AnsaldoBreda S.p.A., a subsidiary of state-owned Finmeccanica, the company was sold in 2015 to Hitachi#Hitachi Rail, Hitachi Rail o ...

. It is named after the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...

-era

Italian painter Following is a list of Italian painters (in alphabetical order) who are notable for their art. A *Niccolò dell'Abbate (1509/12–1571) * Giuseppe Abbati (1836–1868) *Angiolo Achini (1850–1930) *Pietro Adami (c. 1730) *Livio Agresti (1508 ...

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi (Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi) da Caravaggio, known as simply Caravaggio (, , ; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the final four years of hi ...

. The Caravaggio was ordered by Italian operator

Trenitalia Trenitalia is the primary train operator in Italy. A subsidiary of Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, itself owned by the Italian government, the company was established in 2000 following a European Union directive on the deregulation of rail transp ...

in June 2016; follow-on orders were placed by Trenitalia and

Ferrovie Nord Milano 450px, Map of the main branch of the FNM lines. FNM operates also the Brescia-Edolo railway in eastern Lombardy">Edolo.html" ;"title="Brescia-Edolo">Brescia-Edolo railway in eastern Lombardy, not shown in map. Ferrovie Nord Milano (FNM S.p.A.) is ...

. The first trainset rolled-out in April 2018. The Caravaggio entered revenue service with Trenitalia on 14 June 2019; it has been branded as "Rock".

History

In June 2016, Trenitalia ordered the Caravaggio, awarding Hitachi Rail Italy a €333 million contract to supply 39 five-car multiple units. The order had options for up to 300 trainsets at a cost of €2.6 billion; Trenitalia claimed the potential value was unprecedented in Italy. By the time the first trainset was completed at Hitachi's factory in

Pistoia Pistoia (, is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of a province of the same name, located about west and north of Florence and is crossed by the Ombrone Pistoiese, a tributary of the River Arno. It is a ty ...

in April 2018, Trenitalia had increased its order to 118 trainsets, including four-, five-, and six-car versions. The Caravaggio was assigned class designations ''ETR 421'' and ''ETR 521'' dependent on its configuration; Trenitalia had branded the train as "Rock." In 2018, the first trainset was tested at the

Velim railway test circuit The Velim test center ( cs, Zkušební centrum Velim) is a railway rolling stock testing facility at Cerhenice, close to the town of Kolín in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. Perhaps its most notable feature is the Velim railwa ...

in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

ahead of its entry into service the following year. On 14 June 2019, the Caravaggio's inaugural run took place between

Piacenza Piacenza (; egl, label= Piacentino, Piaṡëinsa ; ) is a city and in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, and the capital of the eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with over ...

and

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different na ...

, marking its entry into revenue service. In September 2018, Ferrovie Nord Milano (FNM) announced it planned to purchase up to 120 Caravaggio EMUs over an eight year period, beginning with a €238 million order for 30 four-car trainsets. The eight-year framework included an option for three years of maintenance support for the fleet. FNM deliveries are scheduled to begin by May 2020.

Design

The Caravaggio is a high-capacity double-deck EMU for regional traffic, each car is about long. The Caravaggio is of equivalent quality to contemporary

high speed train High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail system that runs significantly faster than traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated tracks. While there is no single standard that applies worldwide, lines ...

s for passengers and crews. Compared to the trains it is replacing, it provides greater comfort and sustainability and is more accessible for people with reduced mobility. It consumes 30% less energy than the historic fleet, and is more than 95% recyclable. Additional environmentally-friendly measures include

regenerative braking Regenerative braking is an energy recovery mechanism that slows down a moving vehicle or object by converting its kinetic energy into a form that can be either used immediately or stored until needed. In this mechanism, the electric traction mo ...

and lower noise emissions. In 2018, Maurizio Manfellotto, CEO of Hitachi Rail Italy, claimed the Caravaggio's carbon emissions of 5 grams CO2eq were the lowest for any mass transport mode in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. Each train is powered by a 3 kV DC electric system producing and a maximum speed of . The traction equipment is mostly roof-mounted, optimising the interior space for passenger accommodation. The train's acceleration is greater than 1m/sec², which has been credited with improving punctuality. The train is equipped with side- and front-facing

camera A camera is an optical instrument that can capture an image. Most cameras can capture 2D images, with some more advanced models being able to capture 3D images. At a basic level, most cameras consist of sealed boxes (the camera body), with ...

s with anomalous behaviour detection. The body is primarily made of lightweight

alloy An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which at least one is a metal. Unlike chemical compounds with metallic bases, an alloy will retain all the properties of a metal in the resulting material, such as electrical conductivity, ductili ...

s, giving a low weight per passenger and a high passenger capacity per unit length. Passenger capacity varies by operator; in Trentialia's configuration, a five-car set can carry up to 656 people, while an equivalent FNM set can carry 598 seated passengers and 575 standing. The trainset's ergonomic eco-friendly leather seats are designed for comfort. The cabin has

air conditioning Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior environment (sometimes referred to as 'comfort cooling') and in some cases also strictly controlling ...

which is adjusted according to the number of passengers on board, to lower energy consumption. Each 5-car train has ten doors per side and two

toilet A toilet is a piece of sanitary hardware that collects human urine and feces, and sometimes toilet paper, usually for disposal. Flush toilets use water, while dry or non-flush toilets do not. They can be designed for a sitting position popu ...

s (one standard and one for people with reduced mobility). The Caravaggio has luggage storage areas and dedicated spaces for bicycles, sockets to charge

electric bicycle An electric bicycle (e-bike, eBike, etc.) is a motorized bicycle with an integrated electric motor used to assist propulsion. Many kinds of e-bikes are available worldwide, but they generally fall into two broad categories: bikes that assist ...

s. The trains have LED lighting, Wi-Fi, USB sockets, a passenger information system, energy meters, and a passenger counter. Staircases above the bogies give access to the upper deck. The doors are fitted with movable steps to cover the gap between the platform and vehicle when the train is stopped; a manually-operated ramp is available for passengers with reduced mobility.

Gallery

File:Hitachi Rock EMU at Velim Test Track.jpg, A five car trainset on test at Velim Test Track, Cerhenice, Czech Republic File:Hitachi Caravaggio Top-deck Interior.jpg, Interior of a Trenord ETR.521

References

{{Commonscat, Hitachi Caravaggio Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane electric railcars and multiple units FNM electric railcars and multiple units Double-decker EMUs Train-related introductions in 2019 3000 V DC multiple units Hitachi multiple units