The Italian trial site is located on the RFI (Italian Railways Infrastructure Owner) and FS (Italian State Railways Operator) High-Speed line between Florence and Rome.

This line is one of the busiest lines in Italy and ERTMS system will interface with relay interlocking equipment already existing and in operation. It is a 85 km long, winding line, stretching from Florence to Arezzo.

The terrain is hilly and the line comprises numerous tunnels (up to 11 km long) and lots of bridges. The central station of Florence is included in the test site.

This High-Speed line allows runs up to 250 km/h in preparation for the future Rome-Naples High-Speed line.

The main system used is ERTMS level 2 whereas the back-up system is ERTMS level 1.
The aim of the Italian trial track is to test ERTMS levels 1 and 2 with the first test on site of the RBC (Radio Block Centre) connected with the GSM-Railway network.

The provider of the Radio System is ALSTOM Verona Telecommunications S.P.A. as an addition to the original contract. The track side Radio System has been realised under the Morane project. The tunnel coverage is made with antennas and leaky feeders.

In Italy, ERTMS products (ETCS and GSM-R) have been installed on the RFI (Italian Railways Infrastructure Owner) and FS (Italian State Railways Operator) high-speed line between Florence and Arezzo.

The new European Signaling has been demonstrated with a RBC, Radio Block Centre, connected through the GSM-R network and controlling trains only through radio operation.

The first world demonstration took place there in November 2000, with the attendance of over 130 people from main line railways, transit operators and the supply industry. All attendees were able to ride on a test train fully equipped with ERTMS Level 2 products, following in real time the train orders issued by the RBC. It was possible for all to visit the RBC room and to follow from there the train progression through its radio-transmitted orders.

The UIC (International Union of Railways) 2001 Annual World Conference was held in Florence in March 2001 and saw the attendance of over 650 specialists and press representatives from all over the world. A “Pendolino”, i.e. a tilting train from ALSTOM (FIAT) range was used. All UIC conference visitors were able to see the progress of the ERTMS-controlled train from their seats, thanks to the use of special screens that were installed in all coaches for the purpose of the demonstration.
TTI developments continue and work progresses on schedule, with the final steps related to the test track itself being planned for the end 2002.

RFI/FS and ALSTOM TTI, Test Track Italy, is in fact the first step towards the implementation of ERTMS on Italian State Railways on a commercial and much larger scale: it has already been decided to equip with ERTMS Level 2 all three of the next high-speed lines to be commissioned in Italy: Rome-Naples, Bologna-Florence and Milan-Bologna. On all these projects, ALSTOM is acting together with Ansaldo in a consortium called Saturno.

On the Italian trial site, ALSTOM has provided and is testing :

	66 Lineside Electronic Units (LEU)
	250 Eurobalises
	ATLAS 200 and 300 trackside sub-system including 2 RBC
	11 ATLAS 100, 200 and 300 train borne equipment
	11 Specific Transmission Modules (STM) RSDD, realised following the last standard model SCMT (simultaneously continuous and 180 bit balises system) recently approved.
	7 trains will be equipped with ATLAS™.