Munich, 21 May 2025
New Frecciarossa connections between Italy, Germany and Austria, after the agreement between Trenitalia (FS Group), the German railway Deutsche Bahn (DB) and the Austrian railway ÖBB.
By 2026, the new high-speed cross-border connections Milan - Munich and Rome - Munich will be activated. Then, from December 2028, the services will be gradually extended to Berlin and Naples. The so-called ‘European Underground’ project continues with the Frecciarossa, the excellence of high-speed rail, first in Italy and now in Europe.
The announcement was made today in Munich by Gianpiero Strisciuglio, CEO and General Manager of Trenitalia; Michael Peterson, member of the Board of Directors for DB Long Distance Passenger Transport; Sabine Stock, member of the Board of Directors for ÖBB Long Distance Passenger Transport. Apostolos Tzitzikostas, European Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism, participated with a video message.
"Connecting Italy with the main European cities by train,' emphasised Gianpiero Strisciuglio, CEO and General Manager of Trenitalia, 'is one of the FS Group's strategic objectives. Frecciarossa confirms its leading role on international markets, with the ambition of becoming the train of Europeans, and not just Italians. These new connections will be added to those already operating between Milan and Paris. In addition, there are Eurocity and Euronight connections between Switzerland, Austria and Italy, which improve and make work, study and tourism connections with the rest of Europe more sustainable".
Moreover, the rail link project between Italy, Austria and Germany has been selected by the European Commission as a Pilot Project under the Commission Action Plan and aims to improve the international transport offer and meet the growing demand for travel between European countries by a sustainable means such as rail.
The commercial offer will start with four connections on the Milan - Munich and Rome - Munich routes. For the Milan-Munich route, with a travel time of six and a half hours, the main intermediate stops will be Brescia, Verona, Rovereto, Trento, Bolzano and Innsbruck. As for the Rome - Munich route, with a journey time of eight and a half hours, the main stops will be Florence, Bologna, Verona, Rovereto, Trento, Bolzano and Innsbruck. Once the Brenner Base Tunnel is open, travel times will be reduced by approximately one hour. From December 2028, the complete offer will consist of 10 connections between Italy and Germany covering the routes between Milan and Munich; Milan and Berlin; Rome and Munich; Naples and Munich; Naples and Berlin.
The new service will be run with the Frecciarossa 1000, Trenitalia's high-speed train, which complies with the European Technical Specifications for Interoperability. It was also designed and built to run in Italy and on the European railway networks of France, Germany, Spain, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Belgium, since it is able to overcome the differences in power supply and signalling in the various countries. With the Rome/Milan - Munich - Berlin connections, Frecciarossa, after France and Spain, will finally reach Germany, continuing to pursue the goal of the High Speed 'European Underground', connecting the Old Continent’s central cities. The new Frecciarossa connection will offer a direct service between Italy and Germany via Austria, with a significant impact on rail connections between the two countries. With the support of the German infrastructure, connected to many other countries, the line will also intercept transport demand for other destinations such as Frankfurt and Krakow.