The Italian train operator Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori (NTV) has ordered from Alstom 25 of its brand new very high speed AGV trains for €650 million. The contract covers the maintenance of the trains for a 30 year period which is not included in this amount. It also foresees an option for a further 10 trains.

The signing of this contract – which follows the Italian Transport Ministry’s agreement to award NTV a Railway Company licence and authorisation to perform passenger service in Italy – marks the beginning of the implementation phase of NTV’s project that will enable the private operator to start service on the new high speed lines early 2011.

NTV, created in December 2006 by Italian entrepreneurs Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, Diego Della Valle, Gianni Punzo and Giuseppe Sciarrone, will operate in the very high speed railway market in Italy.

NTV and Alstom will present the details of this contract during a press conference to be held on 7 February 2008 in Rome.
NTV will operate the AGV on the Italian high speed network at a speed of 300 kph. NTV’s trains will comprise 11 coaches and will offer around 500 seats. The AGV is built according to the most recent European standards of interoperability and follows the European and Italian regulations for the safeguard of environment and safety. Its traction system played a key role in the performance achieved on 3 April 2007 by the train that set the new world rail speed record and allows the AGV to operate at a speed of up to 360 kph.

Alstom has already manufactured 70% of the trains worldwide currently operated at over 300 kph. The Group’s very high speed activity is in constant development, thanks to its unrivalled experience and technological lead. Since the launch of the first TGV in 1981, Alstom has sold nearly 650 very high speed trains throughout the world. They have covered over 2.8 billion kilometres (6,500 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon) and carried 1.6 billion passengers. Their commercial speed has progressed from 260 kph to 320 kph, and they have set three world rail speed records: 380 kph in 1981, 515.3 kph in 1990 and 574.8 kph in 2007.