Not just at the MetLife Stadium: challenges between countries (and industrial giants) go far beyond sports.
In Italy, 2 railway titans fully controlled by their respective states will compete head-to-head: France’s SNCF and Italy’s FS/Trenitalia group.
With the independent authority’s green light, Italian high-speed rail is preparing to break away from the current duopoly as the French railway group SNCF steps in starting September 2027.
The national network will mark the debut of a type of convoy previously absent from the country’s high-speed lines: double-decker high-speed trains.
The industrial plan of the transalpine company involves introducing 15 next-generation convoys called TGV M, manufactured by Alstom.
The route map will focus on the main backbones of the North and the Center-South, structured into a total of 13 daily round trips:
Turin – Milan – Rome – Naples Backbone: 9 daily round trips will be guaranteed.
Turin – Milan – Venice Transversal: 4 daily round trips will be activated to directly connect the Northwest to the lagoon.
The strategic goal declared by SNCF’s Italian subsidiary is ambitious:
to intercept around 10 million passengers a year and cover 15 percent of the national high-speed market by 2030.
Until now, the transalpine trains of the TGV Inoui line operating in Italy were exclusively limited to cross-border connections, stopping at Milan Porta Garibaldi station without continuing down the peninsula.
SNCF’s entry definitively breaks down national passenger transport borders, accelerating the creation of an integrated European network.
However, competition between countries inevitably extends to Switzerland (SBB) as well. The routes connecting Northern Italy (Milan/Turin) to France and the rest of Europe cross through the Swiss Alpine tunnels. (Sergio Scialabba)
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