- At the 1st TopRail Forum UIC in Barcelona
- Trenitalia: an integrated offer to visit the Cinque Terre Park and the Borghi più belli d’Italia (the most beautiful hamlets in Italy)
- Fondazione FS Italiane: historic trains for soft and slow mobility
Development of railway tourism through soft and sustainable mobility, rediscovering scenic Italian itineraries on board regional trains: this is the proposal of FS Italiane Group at the 1st TopRail Forum, organised by UIC in Barcelona on 20 and 21 April.
Trenitalia and Fondazione FS Italiane have launched initiatives to increase awareness of railway tourism as well as contributing to the growth of this innovative sector in tourism. Regional rail tourism, serviced by Trenitalia, rose 7% in 2017. Trenitalia’s goal is to promote the history and culture of Italian villages, which are easily reached by train, a means of transport that is environmentally-sustainable, convenient, safe, and with the new Rock and Pop trains, increasingly comfortable.
In Barcelona Trenitalia presented the integrated 5 Terre Express offer that allows visitors to visit the scenic stretch of the Ligurian coast (part of the UNESCO World Heritage list) on board regional trains. The trains stop in all the villages in the Cinque Terre Park: Monterosso, Corniglia, Vernazza, Manarola and Riomaggiore. Trenitalia also presented its collaboration with the association I Borghi più Belli d’Italia. The association promotes festivals, exhibitions, fairs, conferences and concerts that promote the artistic and architectural heritage of smaller Italian towns. Out of the 282 villages promoted by the association, 23 can be easily reached with regional trains, with a total of 580 daily connections.
During the 1st TopRail Forum, Fondazione FS Italiane promoted the historic trains it operates in eight regions in Italy. In Tuscany, Ferrovia della Val d’Orcia, between Asciano and Monte Antico (51 km); Ferrovia del Parco, between Sulmona and Carpinone that connects Abruzzo and Molise (118 km); and in Sicily la Ferrovia dei Templi, between Agrigento Bassa and Porto Empedocle (12 km).
During the two-year period 2016-2017, 130,000 tourists travelled on board historic trains of Fondazione FS Italiane. This was a 45% increase compared to the previous two-year period (2014-2015). The National Railway Museum of Pietrarsa, which hosts a collection of historic locomotives and carriages owned by FS Italiane, was recently restored at a cost of about 20 million euros, and registered a record number of visitors in 2017: over 110,000, +58% compared to 2016 and +647% compared to 2014.
(Source: FS Italiane Group)
