'Ferrari of trains' puts Italy on fast track

Ferrari president, Luca di Montezemolo, is an ambitious man. After all, he didn’t get to where he is now by sitting on his chair and sipping hot cocoa. A few years ago, he announced that he was investing in a plane to bring a private high-speed rail line to Italy.

It took a couple of years to get to this day, but finally, Montezemolo has unveiled the very first train his company NTV is putting on the tracks in Italy. The train, which is being called “Italo,” is the fruit of years and years of testing and development by NTV and is considered as one of the most modern trains in Europe.

The Milan-to-Naples route will also be the first privatised high-speed route in Europe, offering an alternative model to government-funded networks in other countries.

How awesome is it? Among the many features of Italo, the few that stood out were on-board wi-fi and a small theater. Yep, a small theater.

NTV is expecting ITALO to have its maiden voyage on March 2012 with the company looking at a goal of carrying 10 million passengers annually across Europe by 2015.

Montezemolo isn’t the only big-time investor in the company. In addition to the Ferrari president, other investors in NTV include Tod’s Shoes CEO Diego Della Valle, the French Rail Company SNCF, and a slew of other Italian businessmen.