High-speed rail (HSR) has developed in Europe as an increasingly popular and efficient means of transport. The first high-speed rail lines on the continent, built in the late 20th century, improved travel times on intra-national corridors. Since then, several countries have built extensive high-speed networks, and there are now several cross-border high-speed rail links.
, several European countries — among them France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom — are connected to a cross-border high-speed railway network. Spain operates the largest high-speed rail network in Europe with and the second-largest in the world, trailing only China. High-speed rail in the region predominantly runs in Western Europe, with comparatively very few high-speed lines having been built in Eastern Europe.
The earliest European high-speed railway to be built was the Italian Florence–Rome high-speed railway (also called "Direttissima"), which opened in 1977. In 2007, a consortium of European Railway operators, Railteam, emerged to coordinate and boost cross-border high-speed rail travel. Developing a Trans-European high-speed rail network is a stated goal of the European Union, and most cross-border railway lines receive EU funding. Alstom was the first manufacturer to design and deliver a high-speed train, which entered service as the TGV in France. Currently, there are several manufacturers involved in designing and building HSR in Europe, with alliances and partnerships, including Alstom, Bombardier (owned by Alstom since 2021), Hitachi, Siemens, and Talgo.
Early national high-speed rail networks The first high-speed rail lines and services were built in the 1980s and 1990s as national projects. Countries sought to increase passenger capacity and decrease journey times on inter-city routes within their borders. In the beginning, lines were built through national funding programs and services were operated by national operators.
Italy
Early developments
The earliest high-speed rail line built in Europe was the Italian "Direttissima", the Florence–Rome high-speed railway in 1977. The top speed on the line was , giving an end-to-end journey time of about 90 minutes with an average speed of . This line used a 3 kV DC supply.
High-speed service was introduced on the Rome-Milan line in 1988–89 with the ETR 450 Pendolino train, with a top speed of and cutting travel times from about 5 hours to 4. The prototype train ETR X 500 was the first Italian train to reach on the Direttissima on 25 May 1989.
In November 2018, the first high-speed freight rail in the world commenced service in Italy. The ETR 500 Mercitalia Fast train carries freight between Caserta and Bologna in 3 hours and 30 minutes, at an average speed of .
The Italian government constructor Treno Alta Velocità has been adding to the high-speed network in Italy, with some lines already opened. The Italian operator NTV is the first open access high-speed rail operator in Europe, since 2011, using AGV ETR 575 multiple units.
In March 2011, a contract for the second phase of construction on the Milan–Verona high-speed line was signed. This section will be long. Construction was originally to be completed by 2015, it is open to Brescia from late 2016.
Current network and projects Line Operating speed (max) Length Constructionbegan Construction completedor expected startof revenue services Florence–Rome 1970 1992 Rome–Naples 1995 2005 Padua–Venice (Mestre) 2007 Naples-Salerno 2008 Milan–Bologna 2002 2008 Bologna–Florence 1992 2009 Turin–Milan 2009 Milan–Brescia 2012 2016 Brescia-Verona 2016 2026 Verona-Vicenza 2021 2026 Vicenza Crossing 2032 Vicenza-Padua 20242029 Brenner Base Tunnel 2006 2032 Turin-Lyon 2011 2030 Verona-Brenner 2021 2032 Milano-Genoa 2011 2029 Naples-Bari 2016 2027 Florence rail bypass100 km/h (62 mph) 2023 2028 Palermo–Catania–Messina high-speed railway 2018 2029
The table shows minimum and maximum (depending on stops) travel times.The table is based on Trenitalia timetables (2011)
BolognaFlorenceMilanNaplesRomeTurin Bologna - 0:350:533:15 (3:35)1:54 (2:03)2:02 Florence0:35 - 1:312:31 (2:51)1:18 (1:45)2:38 Milan0:531:31 - 3:50 (4:18)2:40 (3:08)0:44 (1:00) Naples3:15 (3:35)2:31 (2:51)3:50 (4:18) - 1:085:00 (5:25) Rome1:54 (2:35)1:18 (1:45)2:40 (3:08)1:08 - 3:48 Turin2:022:380:44 (1:00)5:00 (5:25)3:48 -
The Italian high-speed railway network consists of of lines, which allow speeds of up to . The safety system adopted for the network is the ERMTS/ETCS II, the state-of-the-art in railway signalling and safety. The power supply follows the European standard of 25 kV AC 50 Hz mono-phase current. The Direttissima segment is still supplied with 3 kV DC current, but it is planned that this will be conformed to the rest of the network.
With the entering into service of the ETR1000 train-sets, which have a designed top speed of and a designed commercial speed of , the rail network speeds where thought to be upgraded to safely allow trains to run at such speeds. After it entered in service in 2015, the Frecciarossa 1000 underwent several speed tests along the Turin-Milan route, reaching the Italian rail speed record of on 26 February 2016. On 28 May 2018, the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and the ANSF announced that no further tests will be carried out, as issues of ballast being suctioned by the train emerged at those speeds, and that the speed limit would be maintained at , which is the speed for which it is currently certified.
Service on the high speed lines is provided by Trenitalia and the privately owned NTV. Several types of high-speed trains carry out the service:
AGV 575: non-tilting, it can reach and has an operational speed of up to , operated by NTV as Italo; ETR 500: non-tilting, it can reach 360 km/h, operational speeds up to , operated by Trenitalia as the Frecciarossa; ETR 1000: non-tilting, operated by Trenitalia as the Frecciarossa 1000, it can reach and has operational speed of .Marco Morino: All'Expo con il Frecciarossa 1000 Il Sole 24 Ore, 7 August 2014 ETR 485, tilting, speeds up to , operated by Trenitalia as the Frecciargento. It operates mainly on traditional lines; ETR 600, tilting, speeds up to , operated by Trenitalia as the Frecciarossa. It operates on routes that include relatively important sections on traditional lines, but also high-speed ones; ETR 610: tilting, speeds up to , operated by Trenitalia on EuroCity trains between Italy and Switzerland together with Giruno trainsets; ETR 675: non-tilting, operated by NTV as Italo; ETR 700: non-tilting, speeds up to , operated by Trenitalia as Frecciarossa mostly on routes consisting of sections on both traditional and high-speed lines.
Current limitations on the tracks set the maximum operating speed of the trains at after plans for operations were cancelled. Development of the ETR 1000 by AnsaldoBreda and Bombardier Transportation (which is designed to operate commercially at , with a technical top speed of over , is proceeding, with Rete Ferroviaria Italiana working on the necessary updates to allow trains to speed up to . On 28 May 2018, the Ministry for Infrastructures and Transportation and the National Association for Railway Safety decided not to run the tests required to allow commercial operation at , thus limiting the maximum commercial speed on the existing Italian high-speed lines to and cancelling the project.Lucio Cillis: Repubblica Affari e Finanza, 2018-05-28 TGV trains also run on the Paris-Turin-Milan service, but do not use any high-speed line in Italy.Substantial travel time differences between the French TGV (around 80 minutes) and Italian high speed trains (around 50 minutes) (Both non-stop times). This time difference of 30 minutes can only be caused by the TGV taking the slower classic route. The fast regional trains who do not take the high speed take only slightly a bit longer, but they have more stops. There is one TGV that stops in Novara with only marginal extra time. It is not possible to stop in Novara without using the Novara - Milan old classic line. Consulted 2017 and 2016 timetables.
In the 1990s, work started on the Treno Alta Velocità (TAV) project, which involved building a new high-speed network on the routes Milan – (Bologna–Florence–Rome–Naples) – Salerno, Turin – (Milan–Verona–Venice) – Trieste and Milan–Genoa. Most of the planned lines have already been opened, while international links with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia are underway.
Most of the Rome–Naples line opened in December 2005, the Turin–Milan line partially opened in February 2006 and the Milan–Bologna line opened in December 2008. The remaining sections of the Rome–Naples and the Turin–Milan lines and the Bologna–Florence line were completed in December 2009. All these lines are designed for speeds up to . Since then, it is possible to travel from Turin to Salerno (ca. ) in less than 5 hours. More than 100 trains per day are operated. Construction of the Milan-Venice high-speed line has begun in 2013 and in 2016 the Milan-Treviglio section has been opened to passenger traffic; the Milan-Genoa high-speed line (Terzo Valico dei Giovi) is also under construction.
Other proposed high-speed lines are Salerno-Reggio Calabria (connected to Sicily with the future bridge over the Strait of Messina), Palermo-Catania and Naples–Bari.
The main public operator of high-speed trains (alta velocità AV, formerly Eurostar Italia) is Trenitalia, part of FSI. Trains are divided into three categories (called "Le Frecce"): Frecciarossa ("Red arrow") trains operate at a maximum of on dedicated high-speed tracks; Frecciargento (Silver arrow) trains operate at a maximum of on both high-speed and mainline tracks; Frecciabianca (White arrow) trains operate at a maximum of on mainline tracks only.
The increasing success of Italy's high-speed rail networks since 2008 has been cited as one of the main reasons that the flag carrier airline Alitalia, which focused on domestic flights, went bankrupt and ceased operations in October 2021 as high-speed train travel became faster, cheaper and more efficient.
France
France was the second country to introduce high-speed rail in Europe when the LGV Sud-Est from Paris to Lyon opened in 1981 and TGV started passenger service. Since then, France has continued to build an extensive network, with lines extending in every direction from Paris. France has the second largest high-speed network in Europe, with of operative HSR lines in June 2021, behind only Spain's .
The TGV network gradually spread out to other cities, and into other countries such as Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, and the UK. Due to the early adoption of high-speed rail and the important location of France (between the Iberian Peninsula, the British Isles and Central Europe), most other dedicated high-speed rail lines in Europe have been built to the same speed, voltage and signaling standards. The most obvious exception is the high-speed lines in Germany, which are built to existing German railway standards. Also, many high-speed services, including TGV and ICE utilize existing rail lines in addition to those designed for high-speed rail. For that reason, and due to differing national standards, trains that cross national boundaries need to have special characteristics, such as the ability to handle different power supplies and signalling systems. This means that not all TGVs are the same, and there are loading gauge and signalling considerations.
Line Connected cities/stations Opened Operating speed (max) North corridorLGV NordParis-Nord · Péronne · Arras · Lille-Europe · Calais1993LGV Interconnexion EstAéroport Charles de Gaulle · Marne-la-Vallée–Chessy1994 South-west corridorLGV AtlantiqueParis-Montparnasse · Massy1989Southern branch: Vendôme · Tours