It seems the golden age of rail travel might ready to make its unforeseen return, not least thanks its relative eco-friendliness compared to other modes of transportation. As Southern Europe suffers from this summer’s record heat wave, the effects of climate change have never been more keenly felt by the global populace.
For the region’s popular tourist destinations like Italy, the superheated state of our planet isn’t the only strain under which the tourism industry is struggling. Pent-up travel demand from the pandemic years has been unleashed completely and coping with overtourism on top of extreme heat has, in some places, become impossible. According to Travel + Leisure, Italy is forecast to get 75 million visitors this year—a serious spike from 56 million in 2022.
Contending with such factors, it’s no surprise that the Mediterranean country is focusing on finding more sustainable travel methods to funnel tourists towards. To this end, Italy’s state-owned rail operator, Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane (FS), has announced the launch of a whole new brand, called FS Treni Turistici Italiani (FS Italian Tourist Trains), which is set to launch in 2024.
The rail operator’s new offshoot company will rely on refitted vintage and historic locomotives to serve new tourist-centric itineraries and other popular vacation routes, with some overlap of the FS's existing rail services.
“The new company was born with the mission of proposing an offer of railway services expressly designed and calibrated for quality, sustainable tourism attentive to rediscovering the riches of the Italian territory,” FS said in a recent release. It added that one of the aims is to ensure that travelers, “experience the train journey as an integral moment of the holiday, a quality element of the overall tourist experience.”
Belmond Venice Simplon Orient Express (Photo courtesy Belmond)
A Trio of Tourist Train Tiers
There will be three distinct service segments under the new umbrella: Luxury (Lusso) trains, Express (Espressi) and Historic (Storici) trains, and Regional (Omnibus-Regionali). The top Luxury tier will encompass the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, now owned by hotel company Belmond, which is already in operation. Also included in this category will be the upcoming La Dolce Vita Train, which is set to debut next year.
The Express and Historic trains will take on most of the new itineraries, “including at night, on medium-long range routes between the main Italian cities and places of significant tourist attraction.” Express trains themselves will consist of completely modernized vintage railcars from the 1980s and 1990s, refitted to accommodate dining, sleeping and storage areas for large items like skis, bikes and mobility vehicles.
The Historic trains will run, “in various regions and areas of historical-landscape interest of the peninsula, with ad hoc programs and more regular frequencies, tours that combine the train journey with stops for guided tours, walking routes and tastings.” The trains themselves will be selected from among the FS Italiane Foundation’s fleet of more than 400 historic and protected locomotives.
Lastly, Regional routes will acquire stock and assets from its sister company Trenitalia’s commercial fleet, which will be modernized and customized to cater more specifically to the needs of tourists. Regional services will guarantee service on the weekends, the company said, “on lines that cross territories rich in history, with villages and areas of scenic and naturalistic interest, distinguished by peculiar food and wine traditions and agribusiness.”
“In addition to responding to the growing demand for rail tourism in our country, FS Italian Tourist Trains will therefore contribute to promoting a new truly sustainable tourism, to reach both well-known destinations and destinations outside the classic circuits,” the new company affirmed in its July statement.
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