Innotrans '12 - FS Frecciarossa 1000 Mockup

This Innotrans didn't have any high-speed trains, except a prototype by Talgo that could have been very interesting, but stood so that it was literally impossible to get a good picture. The only other thing was this: The mockup of the Frecciarossa 1000.

The name translates to Red Arrow, but you gotta admit that it sounds way better in the original italian. It's not good in German either; "Roter Pfeil Eintausend" sounds like something from the 1920s. How does it sound in your language?

Anyway, this is the look of the newest high speed train for Italy's state railroad Trenitalia (in short FS, for reasons I don't fully get), based on Bombardier's Zefiro platform that has mostly sold in China so far. AnsaldoBreda also gets to do some parts of the thing, but most of the thing is Bombardier.

The design is made by Bertone, one of the big italian car design companies, responsible for classics such as the Alfa Romeo Montreal or Lancia Stratos. All of these companies also do industrial and rail design, although with varying levels of success. I think Giugiaro didn't do bad with the ETR 460/470, but Pininfarina's design on the V 250 does leave something to be desired (although there are fans of it, even here on DA). I'm not sure how much of the design of this train was by Bertone, since mostly, it's an evolution of what Bombardier already had, but I do like the result.

The train, once it's built, will be international, including approval for Switzerland, Austria, France, Spain (the normal gauge high-speed lines), Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. There are also rumors about approval for the Channel Tunnel. I'm not sure if there's really a market for seven-hour high speed train journeys from Amsterdam or London to Milano, but I wouldn't put it past Trenitalia to simply go out and compete directly with DB, SNCF and everyone else on their home turf.

It will reach a top speed of 400 km/h, in theory, although in actual service it will be limited to 360 km/h. It has an active roll compensation (originally developed for new double-decker IC trains for Switzerland) that essentially acts as the world's smallest tilting system and should allow increased speeds on some important lines, such as the Roma-Firenze direttissima (or Rome-Florence high speed line, but that again sounds so boring).