The final leg. Thursday marked the beginning of the technical tests for the Frecciarossa 1000, FS Group’s flagship train, which is being deployed on the railway line connecting Madrid and Barcelona.
- FS, the Italian State Railways company, is entering the Spanish train network through the ILSA consortium via its subsidiary Trenitalia, under the iryo commercial brand.
- The tests are the final step before the trains’ official homologation for the Iberian railways. The first connections will be available to passengers by the end of 2022, with commercial operations starting between September and October.
High speed speaks Italian. Back in 2019, ADIF (the manager of the Iberian railway infrastructure) assigned 30% of the connections on the high-speed network to FS’ brand. That made it the second-most important actor after Spain’s own national operator, Renfe.
- Initially, the new service will link Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Malaga, Cordoba, Valencia, Alicante and Zaragoza. It will then extend to other connections.
- Frecciarossa 1000 trains also operate in France, connecting Milan to Paris through Lyon under Trenitalia France.
- FS is also in the UK (through Avanti West Coast and c2c), Germany (Netinera), Greece (Hellenic Train) and the Netherlands (Qbuzz).
Greener travel. In line with the European Union’s directives, FS aims to encourage Spaniards to pick a more sustainable travel option for longer routes and develop rail links between the main Iberian cities. The company brings to the table over ten years of experience in the sector and has been perfecting its vehicles.
- The Frecciarossa 1000 being tested between Madrid and Barcelona is one of the 20 new units built by Hitachi in Italian factories and shares the traits of those currently running in Italy.
- According to the company, these models are almost entirely recyclable and allow passengers to shed 80% of their CO2 emissions per journey – which makes them fit for the EPD environmental standard.
