Rail Travel Between Milan and Rome Speeds Up

Last year, Associated Press Business Writer Colleen Barr sat aboard Eurostar Italia AV 9427 on its way from Milan to Rome and marveled at the recent high-speed train improvements. Reaching a maximum velocity of 186 mph, Italian Railway’s new Red Arrow would travel the 300-mile distance from Milan to Rome in three hours and 30 minutes shaving an entire hour off the previous travel time.

This year, Barry will be equally, if not more, impressed by saving an additional 45 minutes on the same route. According to the Independent, on Sunday, the latest Italian high-speed train service went into passenger operations. The new trains can now reach speeds of 225 mph delivering passengers to and from Milan and Rome in two hours and 45 minutes.

The new developments are due infrastructure improvements along 600 miles of track spanning the length of Italy over the last 25 years. The high-speed trains will provide major competition to airlines as Trenitalia predicts the new travel time will be almost an hour faster than the same domestic flight when travel to and from the airport and check-in are included.

Trenitalia is offering special introductory rates when riding the Frecciarossa (Red Arrow) or the Frecciargento (Silver Arrow) on the new high-speed routes. Deals include 48-euro, 2nd class tickets departing through February 28, 2010, 30% off tickets purchased 15 days in advance and 15 % off tickets purchased seven days in advance. — Michael Lowe

Win Cool Travel Prizes!
Today’s stop on the Travel Bloggers’ Caravan is: EuropeUpClose.com. Visit the blog and comment on today’s post for a chance to win a Fujifilm FinePix J28 10MP digital camera with 3x optical zoom.