The
first private railway company in Europe and Italy, Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori
(NTV), has announced improved services for its Italo trains, including a new
44-minute high-speed link between Turin’s Porta Susa and Milan, opened on
December 9.
Moreover,
the number of trains travelling from Milan to Venice each day has risen from 6
to 10, the Milan-Rome journey is four minutes shorter, and the Milan-Naples
trip is nine minutes less.
The
improvements on the high-speed rail line are the result of a 1.5 billion euro
investment by NTV, which has also triggered a 10 perecent drop in cars on
Italian motorways and a 15 percent increase in railway passengers.
A
private joint-venture company, NTV presents a challenge to Italy’s state-owned
Fellovie dello Stato railway company, and has been credited the 30 percent
average drop in train prices since NTV launched its services in April 2012.
Since then, it has carried 1.5 million passengers on its various routes and is
expected to surpass two million passengers by the end of the year.
In
announcing the enhanced services, NTV’s chief executive officer, Giuseppe
Sciarrone, pointed to the need to ‘close the gap between regional and
high-speed railway services.’ He underscored the fact that the recent
investment was undertaken ‘without any kind of public subsidies and [that] the
company has employed over 2,000 young people. ‘
