Turin-Milan High-Speed Rail

Construction of the Torino-Milano High Speed line, Italy

Railway track

The line is a double-track railway equipped with Vignoles UNI 60 E 1 rails with standard gauge of 1,435 mm electrically welded, with prestressed reinforced concrete sleepers of 260 cm weighing 400 kg spaced 60 cm apart, track spacing equal to five meters and Pandrol elastic fastening.

Electric Traction

The power supply of the electric traction systems is at 2x25 kV in alternating current from the former Stura junction to the Rho station. The remaining sections are powered in direct current at 3000 V.

Signalling system

The “train spacing” system uses the new ERTMS/ETCS Level 2 technology (European Rail Traffic Management System/European Train Control System), chosen to ensure interoperability between European lines. In particular, the system is composed of a Trackside Subsystem (SST) which, communicating with the train (On-board Subsystem, SSB) through a dedicated GSM network, manages its movement authorization.

A record-breaking curiosity

The official inauguration of the Turin-Novara high-speed line took place on 10 February 2006 on the occasion of the XX Winter Olympic Games in Turin.
On this route, at 5.35pm on 25 May 2006, the experimental diagnostic convoy ETR 500-Y2 RFI of RFI SpA reached a speed of 352 km/h at kilometre marker 59, thus beating the previous Italian record of 347 km/h set in autumn 2005 by the ETR 500 multi-voltage no. 31 to kilometre marker 61 southbound (corresponding to the height of the Anagni Movement Post) of the Rome-Naples high/highway line.
Today the lines are served by Trenitalia's Frecciarossa trains and NTV's AV Italo trains.