Trains and other things: Innsbruck to Turin

Today I'm travelling through Brenner Pass from Austria to Italy.

Innsbruck Hbf in the morning. The station here originally opened in 1853, while the new modern building was opened in 2004.

"Das traditionelle Innsbruck" by Max Weiler, 1954

My first train is this S-Bahn train

ÖBB Class 4024, Bombardier Talent

Plenty of space on S-Bahn

I have a luxury to have almost all train for myself

Brenner Railway was completed in stages from 1853 to 1867 during the Austrian Empire

Matrei

Steinach in Tirol

I'm making a short stop in St. Jodok

In the morning the frequency of the S-Bahn trains here is every 30 min, so I don't need to freeze here for too long

St. Jodok is one of the picturesque towns along the Brenner railway

From Wikipedia: "The maximum grade on the track is 31 per thousand. The minimum curve radius is 264 metres. The highest point of the track is Brenner station at 1,371 m, which is also the highest point reached on the standard gauge networks of the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) and the Italian Ferrovie dello Stato (FS) networks...

...To overcome the steep climb (796 metres between Innsbruck and Brenner) two spiral tunnels were built, using the sides of a valley at St. Jodok on the Austrian side and the sides of the Pflerschtal (German for "Pflersch Valley") on the Italian side."

Brenner Pass has both the railway and the motorway links

St Jodok church

Sun is slowly rising over the Alps

30 min later another S-Bahn train is arriving. No other trains were passing during these 30 minutes

Gries

Arriving to Brennero

Italian name Brennero and German name Brenner

Last stop for this S-Bahn train

From Wikipedia: "All single system electric locomotives must be changed here at the border, since Austria and Italy use different electrical networks (15 kV AC at 16⅔ Hz in Austria, 3000 V DC in Italy)."

ÖBB Class 1216, "Taurus"

S-Bahn trains are terminating here at Brennero, while there are REX (Regional Express) trains like this one operating the line between Trento and Innsbruck.

This seems to be a very short Regional service between Trento and Innsbruck, only two coaches, and only 2nd class.

There are Regional trains also on the Italian side, here operated with Stadler Flirt, ETR 170

ETR 170 is a dual voltage EMU operated by Trenitalia

I'm now waiting for the EC 81 train

I haven't seen many freight trains so far, but here is one waiting for departure

186 440 Bombardier Traxx from private German freight company Lokomotion

186 202 from Railpool

A monument to the designer of the Brenner Railway, Karl von Etzel.

E 405.006 and E 405.022

FS Class E.405 is a locomotive made by ADTranz between 1998-2002, E.405 can operate only on 3000 V direct current lines

186 440 is a Traxx F140 MS locomotive

The town of Brennero

Parrocchia San Valentino

Parrocchia Santa Maria della Strada

Dormitorio for Lokomotion company

I'm having a coffee at the station cafe

From Wikipedia: "The Brenner Base Tunnel, scheduled to be completed in 2025, would divert all freight rail traffic between Fortezza/Franzensfeste and Innsbruck via a tunnel underneath Brenner. Local traffic between Fortezza, Brenner and Innsbruck would continue with additional capacity being released on this railway section. The majority of freight traffic, as well as some passenger services, would make use of this tunnel. Journey time between Bozen/Bolzano and Innsbruck would be reduced from 2 hours to 50–55 minutes."

Brenner railway line is part of the Line 1 of Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T).

Italian card reader for commuters

Eurocity Brenner train is arriving

ÖBB Class 1216 locomotive is used here. It is a Siemens Eurosprinter ES 64 U4 "Taurus"

First freight train is arriving when I'm leaving Brennero

Change of locomotives here in Brennero, from two ÖBB Class 1016 and 1116 to one FS Class E.405 which I will see later as well

The train is almost full, but I have found a free compartment in 2nd class (no free compartments were available in 1st).

If using Interrail, this train is a bit of a special case. In Germany and Austria there is no requirement to have a seat reservation, it is optional and costs 3EUR at ÖBB website. If travelling in Italy, there is an additional supplement, the price is 10EUR for 2nd and 15EUR for 1st class.

The interesting thing is that it is not possible to buy this supplement at DB nor ÖBB websites, but it is only available at Trenitalia website. Furthermore, it is required that the supplement ticket is printed, if the ticket is shown as a mobile ticket it is not valid, I was told by the conductor in the train. Luckily I did print my ticket at Brennero station (just for fun), but it turned out that it was a very good idea.

The railway is scenic here, specially if the weather is sunny.

Here is my 2nd class compartment, at some point I have to move to find another space, as this train is also used for local trips inside Italy.

This service is bound for Bologna Centrale

Fortezza-Franzensfeste

In this train there is a mixture between compartment coaches (Bmz73) and open seating coaches (Bmpz73)

At Bressanone-Brixen two Eurocity trains are meeting each other

Kloster Säben, Monastero di Sabiona

Chiusa-Klausen station

Bolzano-Bozen is my next stop

Bolzano (Italian) or Bozen (German) is the capital city of the province of South Tyrol in northern Italy.

Bolzano station has many service including Night trains and High speed trains

Frecciarossa FS Class ETR 500 is arriving to Bolzano station

This Frecciarossa service terminates here, later on I will be travelling on this train from Trento to Verona.

ETR 526 "Trentino"

Other type of trains here are the Regional services with push pull composition with E 464 locomotive

Alps are not far away from here

MDVE coaches with the old XMPR livery (to the right) and the new DPR livery (to the left)

Piazza della stazione

A monument of the electrification of the line

My next train will be the ETR 526, Regionale service to Trento

ETR 170 and ETR 526

ETR 170, Stadler Flirt operates the line to Merano

R10925 train to Trenro

ETR 526 is an Alstom Coradia Meridian 3rd generation trains

I understand that it is a regional train, but I don't understand how seats can be arranged without access to any part of the window

Eisach river

I'm making a stop at Ora-Auer station

186 440 I saw earlier in Brennero is now passing by

Ora-Auer station and village

E 405 022 that I also saw earlier in Brennero is passing by with LKW Walter intermodal freight cars

Another ETR 526

My next train is a Regionale Veloce service between Bolzano and Bologna

It is the locomotive I saw earlier in Bolzano, now with a better light

E 464 class locomotive manufactured by Bombardier

Control car at the rear of the train

One of the coaches in this Regionale Veloce, the reason why this one is empty, is that there were no heating here

One more stop on this line, this time in Mezzocorona

NTV ETR 675 "Pendolino" is passing by

Open access company NTV/Italo purchased 17 of Alstom Avelia Evo trains capable of 250km/h in 2017.

3rd time I see E 405.022 today

Meter gauge Trento–Malè–Mezzana railway has a stop in Mezzocorona

Another Pendolino is passing by, this time ETR 480 from Trenitalia

This ETR 480 is used for Frecciargento service Napoli-Bolzano

My next train is a Regionale service Bolzano-Verona

ETR 170

ETR 170 in Trento

Monument to Dante

My next train is a Frecciarossa service between Bolzano and Rome

I'm having a lunch at the bar coach, pasta

Restaurant with a view

Bar coach

ETR 500 1st class coach

A view from the camera is shown on the screen in the train

There is a bar trolley service in 1st class

Complimentary prosecco and salty snacks

I have arrived to Verona Porta Nuova where I will change trains once again for my last train today to Turin

Eurocity Brenner billboard at the Verona station

189 915 from Dispolok

ETR 350 from Ferrovie Emilia Romagna

This Eurosprinter is approved for many countries

Eurocity Brenner is arriving, this one with locomotive 1216 025

In order to continue to Bologna, the locomotive has to switch direction here in Verona

1216 050 has received a "Guinness world records" certification says this lable

The locomotive was presented at InnoTrans 2006 as the fastest of this series reaching 357km/h!

Verona Porta Nuova station is located 25min walk from the city centre, so I don't have time to visit much of Verona this time.

Swedish flag here?

After shopping some more food for the long journey to Turin I'm back at the station

My last train today is a Frecciarossa

In this coach I was almost alone for the whole part of the trip

A beer and a sandwich plus an Interrail ticket

I'm travelling now on the Milan–Venice railway line which is one of the most important railway lines in Italy.

Peschiera Del Garda station

Mincio river

Another glass of prosecco

Desenzano

From Brescia and until Milan, the train is using the new high speed line, which was opened in 2017

The whole 165km line will stretch from Milan to Verona, and the remaining 60km part from Brescia to Verona is still under construction.

Here is the part of the new bypass line from Brescia.

The video when travelling with high speed train on the line Milan-Brescia

Carramba

My train is arriving to Milan

ETR 575 from NTV/Italo

My train has arrived to Milan, where it will change the direction before continuing to Turin

ETR 610

Now after the train has switched direction we are travelling to Turin

Time for some refreshments

I bought an Aperol and a Capuccino and got a Christmas gift in the bag (some sweets).

A sandwich a bought in Verona

No stops between Milan and Turin, at Turin there are two stops - here is Porta Susa

Final stop for this train and for me - Torino Porta Nuova

From Wikipedia: "Torino Porta Nuova railway station is the main railway station of Turin, northern Italy. It is the third busiest station in Italy for passenger flow after Rome Termini and Milan Central. Porta Nuova is a terminal station, with trains arriving perpendicularly to the facade. The station is located in corso Vittorio Emanuele II, right in front of piazza Carlo Felice (in the South side of the city centre)."