by InTrieste
A new high-speed rail service linking Italy with Germany and Austria is set to begin operations by 2026, Italy’s state-owned railway operator Trenitalia announced on Wednesday. The project marks a major expansion in cross-border European rail, developed in partnership with Deutsche Bahn (DB) and ÖBB, the Austrian Federal Railways.
The new route will initially connect Rome and Milan to Munich, and is part of a broader initiative dubbed the “European Metro” — a high-speed network intended to bring major European capitals closer together via sustainable transport. According to the FS Group, Trenitalia’s parent company, further extensions will reach Berlin and Naples by December 2028.
“This is one of the strategic objectives of our group: to connect Italy with Europe by rail,” said Gianpiero Strisciuglio, CEO and general manager of Trenitalia. “Our ambition is for the Frecciarossa to become the train of Europeans, not only of Italians.”
The cross-border link has been selected by the European Commission as a pilot project to support international rail connectivity and reduce carbon emissions from air and road travel.
The initial service will launch with four daily high-speed connections between Munich and Italy: two trains will depart from Milan and two from Rome. On the Milan–Munich route, with a travel time of approximately 6.5 hours, key stops will include Brescia, Verona, Rovereto, Trento, Bolzano, and Innsbruck. The Rome–Munich route, which will take about 8.5 hours, adds Florence and Bologna to the list.
Travel times are expected to shorten significantly with the anticipated completion of the Brenner Base Tunnel in 2032, which will reduce journeys between northern Italy and Austria by roughly an hour.
By the end of 2028, the network will expand to 10 daily connections, including direct trains linking Milan and Berlin, Rome and Munich, Naples and Munich, and even Naples to Berlin — creating one of the most ambitious high-speed rail offerings in Europe.
The service will be operated with Trenitalia’s Frecciarossa 1000, a high-speed train engineered to function across various European rail systems, overcoming national differences in power, signalling, and infrastructure.
The pan-European rail expansion comes as a growing number of travelers seek greener alternatives to flying — and as Europe invests heavily in building a more integrated, sustainable transport network for the decades ahead.
