ETR 500 ('' Elettro Treno Rapido 500'') is a family of Italian

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 built by

AnsaldoBreda 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 Rail of Japan. After the dea ...

and introduced in 1993. Designed under the aegis of the

Ferrovie dello Stato Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane S.p.A. ( "Italian Railways of the State"; previously only Ferrovie dello Stato, hence the abbreviation FS) is Italy's national state-owned railway holding company that manages transport, infrastructure, real estat ...

(FS), it is now operated by

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 ...

on RFI tracks.

History

The opening of the Direttissima line, connecting Florence with Rome, in stages between 1978 and 1991 was the first high speed line in Europe. Then, in the 1990s, FS unveiled plans to build a whole new high speed network. As the larger part of the network would be suited for speeds of , new, non-tilting trains had to be designed as the tilting equipment used in the

ETR 450 ETR 450 (''ElettroTrenoRapido 450'') was the first series Italian tilting train (also called Pendolino). History The Pendolino project was started in the 1970s by FIAT Ferroviaria. Development included a number of prototypes, the last of which w ...

460 __NOTOC__ Year 460 ( CDLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Magnus and Apollonius (or, less frequently, year 1213 ''Ab u ...

and

480 __NOTOC__ Year 480 ( CDLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Basilius without colleague (or, less frequently, year 123 ...

Pendolino series was not suited for speeds of over . The new train was to be built by the TREVI (''TREno Veloce Italiano'', "Italian Fast Train") consortium, formed by Breda Costuzioni Ferroviarie,

FIAT Ferroviaria Alstom Ferroviaria S.p.A., former Fiat Ferroviaria S.p.A., is the Italian division of Alstom. Fiat Ferroviaria S.p.A. was the rail division of automobile manufacturer Fiat. It was founded in 1880 as Società Nazionale Officine di Savigliano.

Tecnomasio Tecnomasio was an Italian scientific and precision instrument company founded in the 1860s. By the beginning of the 20th century the company has begun to produce electrical equipment. After financial problems in the early 1900s the company was acq ...

and Firema Trasporti.

Prototypes

In 1988 the first prototype motorcar, called ETR 500-X and nicknamed "Remo," as the brother of the first Roman king, rolled out of the factory in

Vado Ligure Vado Ligure ( lij, Voæ), in antiquity Vada Sabatia, is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Savona, Liguria, in northern Italy. Economy Vado has a large industrial and commercial port. Vado Ligure is home to a railway construction plant, ...

. It was tested on the Direttissima line in the combination of a measuring car and an E 444 locomotive, reaching a record speed of . In 1990 the 2 first complete trainsets, called ETR 500-Y and nicknamed "Romolo," as the first Roman king, were delivered. They were used as test units between their delivery and 1995, when the first production sets entered into service. Between 1995 and 1997 they were also used in normal commercial service when there was a shortage of normal ETR.500 trainsets. The 3 motorcars of the prototype sets are now based at different locations in Italy and unfortunately have been vandalised and graffitized. The middle cars of the 2 ETR 500-Y sets are now part of the two RFI ETR.500 test trains Y1 and Y2.

First generation

After the success of the 2 prototypes, FS decided to order 30 mono-current trainsets supporting the 3 kV DC supply of existing lines. Delivered between 1992 and 1996, with interiors styled by design company

Pininfarina Pininfarina S.p.A. (short for Carrozzeria Pininfarina) is an Italian car design firm and coachbuilder, with headquarters in Cambiano, Turin, Italy. The company was founded by Battista "Pinin" Farina in 1930. On 14 December 2015, the Indian mu ...

, they consist of 2 motorcars (numbered E 404 100 to 159), four first class cars, a restaurant car, and six second class cars. Although suited for driving , they were limited to on the Direttissima as the current drawn from the catenary at would be too high. This was also the reason why a second generation, dual-voltage trains was ordered. Major routes of this train were

Chiusi Chiusi (Etruscan: ''Clevsin''; Umbrian: ''Camars''; Ancient Greek: ''Klysion'', ''Κλύσιον''; Latin: ''Clusium'') is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Siena, Tuscany, Italy. History Clusium (''Clevsin'' in Etruscan) was one of t ...

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Termini,

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Termini,

Salerno Salerno (, , ; nap, label= Salernitano, Saliernë, ) is an ancient city and ''comune'' in Campania (southwestern Italy) and is the capital of the namesake province, being the second largest city in the region by number of inhabitants, after ...

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

Termini. Between 2006 and 2008, the first generation trains have been upgraded with newly built E.404 6xx dual-voltage motorcars, coupled to the existing middle cars. All E.404 0xx motorcars of the older trainsets have been refurbished and transformed into locomotives of the type E.414, to haul EuroStarCity and later

Frecciabianca ''Frecciabianca'' is a regional high-speed train of the Italian national train operator, Trenitalia, and a member of the train category Le Frecce. The name, which means "white arrow", was introduced in 2011 after it had previously been known ...

trains on selected routes. These trains consist of two E.414 locomotives and 10 former Intercity UIC-Z coaches. Although the coaches are "normal" Intercity coaches, they will mostly remain in semi-permanent coupled formation with the two E.414 locomotives.

Second generation

With the new high-speed lines finally in construction, FS chose to electrify the lines at instead of 3 kV DC as used on the classic network. This allows the trains to drive at their top speed of , as 3 kV is technically limited to operation. As the first generation trains can not operate off 25 kV AC, new trains had to be ordered. As the new trains can run both off 25 kV AC and 3 kV DC, they were designated P for ''politensione'' (multi-voltage). The new power cars of the trains feature a totally different design than the first generation trainsets, although also designed by design company

. These new trains, delivered between 2000 and 2005, consist in original formation of 2 motorcars, four 1st class cars, a restaurant car, and six 2nd class cars. However, with the addition of a Business class car after the four 1st class cars to all trainsets, expansion to 12 middle cars was finished in 2004. The ETR 500 P started regular service with their commercial top speed of on the Rome-Naples and Torino-Novara high-speed lines, when those lines were opened for revenue service on 22 December 2005 resp. 1 February 2006. The second generation trains can be divided in multiple sub-series. They were delivered in three batches: * ETR 500 P ord. '96 (sets 31-60 with power cars numbered E.404 500-559): trainset built as new. * ETR 500 P ord. '02 (sets 1-30 with power cars numbered E.404 600-659): power cars built as new for use with cars from the 1st generation (mono-current) trainsets. * power cars E.404 660-663: an extension of the second batch, to replace four power cars sold to infrastructure authority RFI (see below), delivered in 2007-8. In addition, there are rebuilt and refurbished versions: * ETR 500 F: trainsets modified for operation in France (F for ''Francia'' = France). This version was tri-current, as it was also enabled for the 1.5 kV DC system used on conventional lines in Southern France. These sets had only 8 middle cars: three 1st class cars, a restaurant car, and four 2nd class cars. Multiple trains, including sets 39, 54, 58 and 60 were converted and used for tests in France from 2001 to 2005 on the

LGV Nord The Ligne à Grande Vitesse Nord (North High-Speed Line), typically shortened to LGV Nord, is a French -long high-speed rail line, opened in 1993, that connects Paris to the Belgian border and the Channel Tunnel via Lille. With a maximum speed ...

line. However, no type approval was granted for the trains in France even after the tests, the trains never entered regular cross-border service. Both the middle and power cars were rebuilt as standard P units in 2006-7. * ETR 500 Y1 (with power cars numbered E.404 649, 652) and Y2 (with power cars numbered E.404 648, 621): test trains for infrastructure authority RFI, with new tractor heads attached to the old middle cars of the original Y500 prototypes. Used for the commissioning of new high-speed lines. Y1 has 8 middle cars, Y2 has 3 at present. * ETR 500 P 8-car sets for Turin-Milan: When the Turin-Novara high-speed line was opened in 2006, Turin-Milan service started with ETR 500 P units reduced to 8 middle cars, to fit the length of the station platforms at Malpensa Airport. These trains included set 60 (part of a former ETR 500 F set) in special

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second t ...

livery. * ETR 500 "AV": in 2005, Trenitalia introduced a new service concept for its high-speed trainsets, under the new brand name ''AV'' (for ''Alta Velocità'' = High Speed) in addition to ''Eurostar Italia''. In the course of this, all ETR 500 trainsets received new interior and a new livery, with the "AV" logo prominently displayed on the power cars. * ETR 500 "Frecciarossa": in 2008, Trenitalia introduced new brand names for its ''Eurostar Italia Alta Velocità'' high-speed trains that categorise them according to top speed. The new brand name for trains with top speeds in the 300–350 km/h range is ''Frecciarossa'' (meaning Red Arrow). The ETR 500 and the new ETR 1000 are currently the only trains qualifying as ''Frecciarossa''. The trains receive a new livery with a red stripe and the brand name on the power cars.

Speed records

* An ETR 500 F test train composed of 8-car trainset 54 with motor cars E.404 500 and 526 set a record speed of between Lille and Marne-la Vallée in France on 2 June 2005. * ETR 500 P set 31, shortened to 8 middle cars, achieved 348.5 km/h on the Rome-Naples line on 7 September 2005. * ETR 500 P set 31 achieved (on 5 October 2005) and then ETR 500 Y2 achieved 352.0 km/h on 25 May 2006 on the Turin-Novara line. * ETR 500 Y2, during commissioning tests of the upgraded Ankara-Eskişehir line, part of the Turkish high-speed railway network, achieved a national rail speed record for Turkey at 303 km/h. * ETR 500 Y1 achieved 355 km/h on the Milan-Bologna line on 1 March 2008 at 17:23. The last speed record is (also trainset Y1) between Florence and Bologna. This represents the "indoors" world speed record, as the speed was reached in the Monte Bibele tunnel on the new high speed line between Bologna and Florence. By the end of 2017 Trenitalia will have 50 new

ETR 1000 The Frecciarossa 1000, is a high-speed train operated by Italian state railway operator Trenitalia. It was co-developed as a joint venture between Italian rail manufacturer Hitachi Rail Italy (initially AnsaldoBreda) and multinational conglomera ...

able to reach 360/400 km/h.

Footnotes

References

*''Der italienische Hochgeschwindigkeitszug ETR 500 (1. Auslieferung)'
Hochgeschwindigkeitszüge.com
(German) *''Der italienische Hochgeschwindigkeitszug ETR 500 (2. Serie)'

(German)

External links

FS ETR 500 P96 @ Trainspo
{{High-speed rail High-speed trains of Italy Bombardier Transportation multiple units AnsaldoBreda multiple units Alstom multiple units

ETR 500 ETR 500 ('' Elettro Treno Rapido 500'') is a family of Italian high-speed trains built by AnsaldoBreda and introduced in 1993. Designed under the aegis of the Ferrovie dello Stato (FS), it is now operated by Trenitalia on RFI tracks. History ...

Passenger trains running at least at 300 km/h in commercial operations Passenger trains running at least at 250 km/h in commercial operations Passenger trains running at least at 200 km/h in commercial operations Italian streamliner trains Train-related introductions in 1993 Electric multiple units with locomotive-like power cars 3000 V DC multiple units 25 kV AC multiple units 1500 V DC multiple units of France