High-speed trains to link Italy, Austria and Germany

Italy’s Frecciarossa high-speed trains are very much on the move with the launch of direct services between Italy, Austria and Germany getting closer. 

Across Europe, trains can provide travellers with an affordable alternative to short-haul flights.

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 signalling technologies, news hub Travel Mole reports.

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.

First we take Paris, then we take Berlin

 

Travelling by train is often the best choice in Europe - and two of the continent's great capitals are now linked by a direct high-speed train connection. 

Germany’s Deutsche Bahn and France's SNCF introduced a daytime InterCity Express (ICE) service between Paris and Berlin last month and are planning to add a second route between the two capitals in 2026.

Taking advantage of its new fleet of 322 kph ICE3neo trains, the once-a-day service takes around eight hours in each direction, also serving Strasbourg, Karlsruhe and Frankfurt on its 878km trip.

The trains link Paris Gare de l'Est with Berlin Hauptbahnhof. 

Fares start from around $100 Aus and each train has capacity for 444 passengers, of which 111 are in first class.

The new high-speed ICE service is the first direct daytime train between Paris and Berlin since the 1990s and complements the Nightjet sleeper service introduced in 2023.

Unfortunately, speeds on some section are reduced with trains having to use lower speed lines, but the service is expected to prove popular with both business and leisure travellers. 

The price of a Paris-Berlin ticket varies depends on many parameters such as whether you have a discount card or an SNCF subscription, the dates of the journey and the railway company.

For more details see https://www.sncf-connect.com/train/trajet/paris/berlin