First high-speed Frecciacrossa to honour late sporting legend

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The first of Italy’s new high-speed Frecciarossa trains is to be named after sprinter Pietro Mennea who died last week.

The announcement was made following the passing of Mennea, who won the 200m gold at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, on March 21.

Mennea’s world record time for the 200m stood for 17 years before eventually being broken by Michael Johnson in 1996.

After retiring from athletics, the 60 year old went into politics, representing the Italian democratic party as an MEP.

Speaking about the decision to name the first of the new high-speed fleet after Mennea, chief executive of Ferrovie dello Stato Mauro Moretti said: “It will be the combination of speed and of Italian excellence.

“This is a demonstration of our choice gratitude and affection for those who with his commitment, his seriousness, his professionalism and his quality has brought honor to our country internationally.”

Bombardier and AnsaldoBreda are building 50 new high-speed trains for Italian operator Trenitalia.

The Frecciarossa 1000 will be capable of reaching operating speeds of 360 km/h.

Testing is set to begin at AnsaldoBreda’s Pistoia site tomorrow (March 26) ahead of the start of full revenue service in 2014.

1 COMMENT

  1. It is not a replacement for the E464 in any way. No idea where you are getting that from.

    It could be considered a successor to the ETR500 high speed train, but the new train is supposed to be cross border compatible.

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