Italy's Trenitalia to Launch Paris-London High-Speed Rail in 2029, Orders 19 Hitachi Trains

Italian rail group FS announced on the 7th that its operating company Trenitalia will enter the high-speed rail business between Paris and London in 2029. To bolster its French operations, including this route, the FS Group has ordered 19 trainsets from Hitachi Rail, a subsidiary of Hitachi, with total investment of approximately 2 billion euros, equivalent to about 365 billion yen, including maintenance and preparation.

The high-speed rail service linking Britain and continental Europe has previously been monopolised by Eurostar, but multiple new entrants have emerged. FS Group had already planned to enter the market in 2029, and this announcement gives concrete form to that plan. Trenitalia has already entered France's high-speed rail market following the opening of the French market, and currently operates trains on the Paris-Lyon, Paris-Marseille and northern Italy Milan routes.