Testing of the trains began in Germany and Austria last week as part of the international approval process. Subject to successful certification, commercial services between Milan and Munich and Rome and Munich are expected to start in summer 2027.
The project is being developed by Italy’s Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane (FS), through Trenitalia, in partnership with Germany’s Deutsche Bahn (DB) and Austria’s ÖBB.
The initial service will comprise four connections across the two routes.
The Milan-Munich journey will take about six and a half hours, covering roughly 600 kilometers. Planned intermediate stops include Brescia, Verona, Rovereto, Trento, Bolzano and Innsbruck.
The Rome-Munich service will take approximately eight and a half hours, with stops at Florence, Bologna, Verona, Rovereto, Trento, Bolzano and Innsbruck.
The services will use the Frecciarossa 1000, Trenitalia’s flagship high-speed train. The train is certified to European interoperability standards and is designed to operate across different railway systems, power supplies and signaling technologies.
The cross-border routes will give travelers direct access to major destinations without changing trains, linking northern and central Italy with Austria and Bavaria.
The network is planned to grow substantially from December 2028, when the full program is expected to reach 10 connections between Italy and Germany.
Future services will extend the network to Berlin and Naples, including planned routes linking Milan with Berlin and Naples with both Munich and Berlin. The longer-term network is expected to create five daily round-trip services across the Germany-Austria-Italy corridor.
The expansion could also improve rail access to destinations beyond the direct routes. FS expects the network to capture demand for onward travel to cities including Frankfurt and Krakow, using Germany’s extensive rail connections.
Travel times should eventually improve further. The planned Brenner Base Tunnel, once operational, is expected to cut around an hour from journeys between Munich and northern Italy.
FS is describing the project as part of its vision for a European high-speed “metro,” linking major cities through international rail services.
The Italian group is also pursuing a separate expansion across the Channel. It plans to launch a Paris-London high-speed service by 2029, backed by a planned €1 billion investment and a potential partnership with Spanish mobility company Evolyn.
