The Italian railway company Mercitalia Rail has launched a high-speed freight train between Bologna and the Maddaloni-Marcianise terminal near Naples. The cargo train on a route of around 600 km runs every day from Monday to Friday in just three and a half hours.
Such travel time on this distance gives an average speed of about 170 km/h. This is possible because the Mercitalia Fast train uses the high-speed rail network.
The Mercitalia Fast train has been launched due to the needs of clients such as courier companies, logistics operators, producers and distributors. Wagons adapted for high-speed driving will accommodate loads corresponding to 18 trucks with semi-trailers worth of cargo. Loads are introduced into wagons in baskets on wheels, which is to make loading and unloading operations quick and safe.
The cargo space of Mercitalia Fast
With the launch of the new Mercitalia service, we will ensure that the flow of goods in our country is fast, extremely safe and environmentally friendly. Such are the specific actions of the government, which strongly emphasizes intermodality in transport” said Luigi Di Maio, Minister of Labor and Economic Development a few weeks ago during the presentation of the project Mercitalia Fast.
Connection with the logistic gate of the south
The Mercitalia terminal in Maddaloni-Marcianise (near Naples) is a logistics gate to the south of Italy. In contrast, Interport in Bologna is considered one of the most important logistics centres in northern Italy.
In the future, we plan to extend the offer of Mercitalia Fast services to other terminals located in major Italian cities with access to the high-speed rail network,” said Marco Gosso, general director of Mercitalia.
According to the operator, a regular freight train will reduce the movement of lorries on one of the main Italian highways – A1. Over the year, thanks to Mercitalia Fast, the number of trucks on this route is expected to decrease by around 9,000.
Mercitalia Rail is currently the largest Italian operator on the European freight market, which has one of the largest fleets of locomotives (340 electric and 130 diesel) and freight wagons in Europe. The consolidated turnover of the company exceeds 1 billion euro per year.
The company belongs to the state railway group Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane. It was established in January 2017, when it took over the operation of Trenitalia Cargo as a separate company and received selected resources thanks to the gradual restructuring process. It offers a wide range of logistics and transport services as well as freight transport. Currently, it is the main railway company in Italy in the cargo sector.
Photo: Mercitalia Rail