Naples, Central station, gorgeous long-distance train

Le Frecce is the

high-speed rail 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, line ...

train category 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 ...

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 ...

History

In 1997, a new category, "

Eurostar Eurostar is an international high-speed rail service connecting the United Kingdom with France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Most Eurostar trains travel through the Channel Tunnel between the United Kingdom and France, owned and operated sep ...

", was introduced as the brand name of the high-speed trains run by Trenitalia in Italy. Since 2006, trains started to be operated and promoted under further sub-brands and less and less sold under the name "Eurostar". In June 2012, the category Eurostar was officially divided into various subcategories indicating various high-speed services. The new categories created were Frecciarossa (literally, ''Red Arrow'') for the fastest trains, Frecciargento (literally, ''Silver Arrow'') for the next category of trains and finally Frecciabianca (literally, ''White Arrow''). Since all these three train categories are named as "Freccia" (literally, ''Arrow''), the high-speed trains operated by Trenitalia are named "Le Frecce", on a par with

TGV The TGV (french: Train à Grande Vitesse, "high-speed train"; previously french: TurboTrain à Grande Vitesse, label=none) is France's intercity high-speed rail service, operated by SNCF. SNCF worked on a high-speed rail network from 1966 to 1 ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

ICE Ice is water frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius or Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaq ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

and AVE in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

Frecciarossa

Frecciarossa ''Frecciarossa'' is a high-speed train of the Italian national train operator, Trenitalia, and a member of the train category Le Frecce. The name, which, if spelled "Freccia rossa" means "Red arrow" in English, was introduced in 2008 after ...

trains operate at speeds of up to 300 km/h (190 mph). It runs mostly on high-speed line and is the premier service of Trenitalia and competes with .italo, operated by

Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori Italo - Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori ( it, New Travellers Transport) is an Italian open-access train operating company operating in the field of high-speed rail transport. Commencing services in early 2012, it became Europe's first private open a ...

. The service is provided by

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 ...

and, since June 2015, by ETR 1000. There are four classes, namely, Executive, Business, Premium and Standard class, with a

restaurant car A dining car (American English) or a restaurant car (British English), also a diner, is a railroad passenger car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant. It is distinct from other railroad food service cars that do ...

. There are plans to increase the speed of Frecciarossa service to 350 km/h in intermediate-term. Comprehensive test-runs with ETR 1000 were carried out from Autumn 2015 to the end of 2016.

Frecciargento

Frecciargento ''Frecciargento'' is a high-speed train of the Italian national train operator, Trenitalia, and a member of the train category Le Frecce. The name, which means "Silver Arrow", was introduced in 2012 after it had previously been known as Eur ...

trains operate at speeds of up to 250 km/h (160 mph). In agreement to the use of

Pendolino Pendolino (from Italian ''pendolo'' "pendulum", and ''-ino,'' a diminutive suffix) is an Italian family of tilting trains used in Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland, Russia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the UK, the US ...

trains policy, only some sections of the railway lines of Frecciargento are high speed and it runs on conventional rail lines in the other sections. The third (ETR 485) and fourth (ETR 600, ETR 610) generation of

trains are employed for Frecciargento trains. There are two classes (first and second class) as well as one restaurant car.

Frecciabianca

Frecciabianca trains operate at up to 200 km/h (ETR 470 and ordinary Frecciabianca) and 250 km/h (ETR 460 Frecciabianca) on conventional lines. The ETR 460 and ETR 463 of the Pendolino family are used in services between

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 ...

and

Reggio Calabria Reggio di Calabria ( scn, label= Southern Calabrian, Riggiu; el, label= Calabrian Greek, Ρήγι, Rìji), usually referred to as Reggio Calabria, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, is the largest city in Calabria. It has an estimated pop ...

Ravenna Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the ca ...

and

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of t ...

. Since December 2015, ETR 470 has also been used in the Rome-Reggio Calabria line.

FS Class E.414 The E.414 is a class of electric locomotives operated by Trenitalia. They were built in 1994–1996, in a total of 60 units, as the E.404 class used in pairs in the ETR 500 high-speed trains. Starting from 2007, they were refurbished to be used, i ...

and FS Class E.402 locomotives are used in other lines. There are two classes and a corner bar on Frecciabianca trains.

External links

Official website
(In Italian, English or Chinese) *
Frecciarossa
*
Frecciargento
*
Frecciabianca

References