Italy's AGCM makes RFI high-speed slot commitments binding

RFI allocates a new operator at least 18 train paths on the Turin/Milan/Rome and Turin/Milan/Venice lines and guarantees them for ten years; Trenitalia and Italo must give up capacity. SNCF Voyages Italia plans to start with 15 trains from September 2027 but considers the allocation too small.

After proceedings opened in March 2025 over suspected abuse of a dominant position, Italy's competition authority AGCM has accepted the commitments of network manager RFI and made them binding. RFI allocates a new entrant at least 18 train paths on the Turin/Milan/Rome and Turin/Milan/Venice high-speed lines, guarantees them for ten years and changes its network access rules in favour of new entrants; Trenitalia and Italo, so far the only operators, have to give up capacity, according to the report. SNCF Voyages Italia plans to start with 15 trains from September 2027, which a Bocconi study says would bring over EUR 480 million of benefits a year and more than 4,000 jobs, but it regards the package as too small, since its plan calls for 13 daily round trips (9 Turin–Naples, 4 Turin–Venice). (LOK Report, 9 Mar 2026)