Frecciarossa to run Milan and Rome to Munich from 2027

What FS Group announced in Berlin, including the 403-seat Intercity 200

Figures and quotes are taken from the FS Group press release issued at InnoTrans, Berlin, 25 September 2026. Fares and booking dates were not included in the release.

FS Group, the Italian state rail group that owns Trenitalia, used InnoTrans in Berlin on 25 September 2026 to set out a plan that puts Italy within reach of Munich by high-speed train. Trenitalia, in cooperation with Deutsche Bahn and OBB, will launch Frecciarossa services on Milan to Munich and Rome to Munich in summer 2027, after approval of the new trains is complete. The initial offer is four services. Test runs are already under way on the German and Austrian networks, which means the trains are being put through their paces on the infrastructure they will use before any passenger ticket is sold.

At the same event Trenitalia and Alstom unveiled the new 403-seat Intercity 200, a separate train from the Frecciarossa fleet but part of the same push to renew Italian rail. The 403-seat figure is the headline number for the new Intercity train, which is built on the Coradia Stream platform and runs at 200 km/h. The announcement matters for UK travellers because it shows the direction of travel on the continent: cross-border high-speed rail is being planned as a single journey rather than a chain of separate national tickets. FS Group said a new business plan focused on passengers and rail operations will be finalised by the end of 2026, which is the document that will sit behind the 2027 launch.

Journey times and how the timetable grows

The first phase of the Frecciarossa plan is deliberately small. Four services will run when the operation begins in summer 2027, with journey times of about 6 hours 30 minutes from Milan to Munich and about 8 hours 30 minutes from Rome to Munich. Those times put Munich within a day trip of Milan and within a long day of Rome, and they are the numbers UK travellers will compare against flying when they plan a trip that starts in London. The route crosses the Alps, which is why the approval process for the new trains on the German and Austrian networks is the gate that has to open before tickets can go on sale.

The timetable then grows sharply. From December 2028 ten services a day are planned between Italy and Germany, with extensions to Naples and Berlin. That is a step change from four services to ten, and it turns the route from a trial into a corridor. For a UK traveller the practical effect is frequency: a ten-a-day service makes it possible to leave London in the morning and reach Italy the same day without depending on a single departure. The extensions to Naples and Berlin also widen the map, because Naples is the southern end of the Italian high-speed network and Berlin is the northern end of the German one. The plan is announced, not yet timetabled, and the December 2028 figure is a target rather than a published timetable.

What it means for travellers starting in the UK

For a journey that starts in the UK, the route is Eurostar to Paris or Brussels, Deutsche Bahn to Munich, then Frecciarossa through to Italy without changing operator. That last point is the change. Today a UK traveller heading to Italy by rail typically books separate legs with separate operators and separate conditions, and a delay on one leg is not automatically the problem of the next. A through Frecciarossa service from Munich to Milan and Rome, run by Trenitalia with Deutsche Bahn and OBB, reduces the number of handovers on the Italian side of the trip.

The costs that are known are the practical ones. Fares, booking dates and the sales channels for UK buyers have not been announced, so no price can be quoted for the new Frecciarossa route and no date can be given for when seats go on sale. Tickets are expected from Trenitalia, Deutsche Bahn and OBB, but the commercial details are still open. Travellers comparing this with a flight should also check the cost of a rail pass if one is used, and the cost of mobile data abroad, because a two-day rail journey across three countries uses data in a way a short flight does not. Those are the line items that decide whether the train competes on price as well as on comfort.

The new Intercity 200 and the wider fleet order

The Intercity 200 is the other half of the Berlin announcement. It is built with Alstom on the Coradia Stream platform, runs at 200 km/h, and has 403 seats, 3 spaces for passengers with reduced mobility and 8 bicycle spaces. Trenitalia and Alstom also cite energy savings of up to 30 percent versus previous models and up to 94 percent recyclable materials. Those figures are about the train itself rather than the route, and they are the kind of detail that matters to passengers who care about bicycle carriage and accessibility as much as speed.

The Intercity 200 is part of a roughly EUR 500 million Trenitalia order for 38 new Intercity trains, financed through Italy's National Recovery and Resilience Plan. That funding link explains the timing: the order is tied to a national investment programme, and the trains are being introduced alongside the cross-border Frecciarossa plan. Simone Gorini is General Manager of Trenitalia, and Gianpiero Strisciuglio is CEO and General Manager of FS Group. The fleet order and the Munich route are separate projects, but they share a purpose, which is to move Italian rail towards a larger, newer and more international network by the end of the decade.

Where Frecciarossa already runs outside Italy

Frecciarossa is not new to running beyond Italy. It already operates in France on the Paris to Milan route, and in Spain through the iryo brand. Germany and Austria become the next international high-speed markets for the operator, which is why the Munich plan is described as an extension of an existing model rather than a first experiment. The French and Spanish operations give Trenitalia a track record in working with other national rail bodies and in selling tickets in markets outside Italy.

For UK travellers the significance is the shape of the map. A London to Italy rail route via Eurostar and Deutsche Bahn has existed as a set of connections rather than a single product. The Frecciarossa plan adds a high-speed operator running through from Munich to Milan and Rome, and later to Naples and Berlin, which closes part of the gap between the UK and Italy by rail. The announcement does not include fares, booking dates or UK sales channels, and the 2027 start depends on train approval. What is confirmed is the operator, the cooperation with Deutsche Bahn and OBB, the four initial services, the journey times of about 6 hours 30 minutes and about 8 hours 30 minutes, and the plan for ten services a day from December 2028.

Source: FS Group press release, InnoTrans 2026, 25 September 2026.

Related coverage on Kael Tripton: Eurostar to Run Direct London to Antwerp Trains From December, Eurostar disruption: passenger refund and rebooking rights under UK and EU rail rules, Interrailing Europe 2025: UK Guide to Passes, Routes and Costs, EU Roaming Charges for UK Mobile Users: What to Expect, EU Roaming Charges for UK Mobiles Explained.

Frequently asked questions

When will Frecciarossa run from Milan and Rome to Munich?

Trenitalia, with Deutsche Bahn and OBB, will launch Frecciarossa services on Milan to Munich and Rome to Munich in summer 2027, after approval of the new trains is complete.

How long will the journeys take?

About 6 hours 30 minutes from Milan to Munich and about 8 hours 30 minutes from Rome to Munich, based on the initial four services.

How many services will run?

The initial offer is four services. From December 2028 ten services a day are planned between Italy and Germany, with extensions to Naples and Berlin.

Can I book tickets from the UK yet?

No. Fares, booking dates and the sales channels for UK buyers have not been announced. Tickets are expected from Trenitalia, Deutsche Bahn and OBB.

What is the Intercity 200?

A new train unveiled by Trenitalia and Alstom at InnoTrans, built on the Coradia Stream platform, running at 200 km/h with 403 seats, 3 spaces for passengers with reduced mobility and 8 bicycle spaces.