Hello everybody, This time we'll be taking a look a the Riviera di Ponente (Western Ligurian Riviera) that runs from Savona, a major station in Liguria where you can catch trains towards Torino, Milano and Genova, to Ventimiglia, right on the border with France. The route would be set in modern day and, aside from the great gameplay it could provide, it would open up nicely the italian railways market. Route and history The route is around 100 km (60 miles) and features 20 stations, a couple of freight yards and a very buisy and important freight port. The history of this line is very fascinating as it has seen continuous infrastructural evolution. Originally inaugurated in 1872 as a single-track coastal railway, the line was built close to the Mediterranean. For over a century, this historic alignment provided spectacular seaside views but suffered from severe capacity bottlenecks and speed restrictions. To meet modern demands, the line was upgraded with a multi-decade project known as the "spostamento a monte" (inland realignment). Starting in the late 1960s and continuing through recent major milestones (like the 2016 opening of the Andora-San Lorenzo section) vast stretches of the old coastal track were doubled and moved deep inside the mountains. This transformation turned the line into a high-capacity corridor characterized by incredibly long tunnels, while simultaneously freeing up the old coastal trackbeds. Crucially, the massive infrastructure upgrade of the route is still incomplete, which creates a highly engaging driving dynamic. Players will constantly alternate between navigating low-speed (90 km/h - 55 mph) single-track bottlenecks that hug the coast, and opening the throttle (up to 180 km/h - 110 mph) on the fully upgraded double-track corridors. Scenery Driving this route offers an unparalleled visual experience because of the unique geography of the Riviera di Ponente. The landscape is defined by the Ligurian Alps meeting with the sea, creating steep, terraced mountainsides that plunge into crystal-clear, turquoise waters. As you drive the train, the environment shifts drastically from the vibrant colors of the old coastal sections, where the track skirts sandy beaches and pastel-colored houses, to the sudden pitch-black immersion of the modern inland deviations. This extreme contrast between the bright, densely populated seaside environment and the isolated high-speed mountain tunnel sections creates a highly dynamic and visually captivating atmosphere for the simulator. Passenger services The Riviera di Ponente hosts a dense and highly varied timetable, forcing drivers to carefully manage the single-track bottlenecks. The gameplay operations range from frequent Regionale or Regionale Veloce (local commuter) services that call at every o most of the stations, and take up to 2 hours to drive the whole route, to long-distance Intercity trains connecting major hubs to the French border at Ventimiglia. This mix of slow and fast traffic creates a challenging environment where keeping to the timetable is critical to avoid delays across the single-track sections. Rolling stock Italy is going through a big rebranding at the moment with new logos and liveries for Intercity and Regionale rolling stocks. At the moment most of the train still have the old "DPR" livery but some have been repainted with the new "Rebel Revolution" livery. I'll include both below. Unless specified the rolling stock that I'll talk about is owned by Trenitalia, Italy's state-owned railway operator. Regionale services E.464 It is the undisputed backbone of Italian regional transport (728 of these were built!). Built with a single driving cab, it operates exclusively in push-pull configurations, typically paired with double-decker Vivalto coaches. Vivalto coaches + cabcar Trenord In the summer there is also a train operated by Trenord (Lombardia's regional railway operator owned by Trenitalia) that uses an E.464 with either Vivalto or MDVC coaches with their respective cabcars. It runs from Milan to the sea and it is called "Treni del mare" (Trains of the sea). MDVC coaches + Mazinga / Passante cabcars These coaches, in the past present all across Italy, are now being faded out and replaced by newer rolling stock. It's two cabcar are the Passante (it means gangwayed) and the very unique Mazinga that was nicknamed this way because of its looks. ETR 104 "Pop" ETR 521 / ETR 621 "Rock" They are very similar one to another; the difference in the class number indicates if it's a 5-car train or 6-car train. (Continues in the comments)
Intercity services E.414 + UIC-Z / Gran Comfort coaches These locos were used in Frecciabianca services until a couple of years ago and now exclusively run Intercity services. They are operated in a top and tail formation. E.464 Several E.464 locomotives have been retrofitted with traditional UIC couplers and the ability to run in pairs, and they are now used for both Intercity Giorno (day), with UIC-Z and Gran Confort coaches, and Intercity Notte (night) services, with UIC-Z, UIC-X and MU coaches. UIC-Z coaches Those coaches were built from the standardized Eurofima coaches project. The Eurofima coaches have already been implemented in game so it should be easier to make these using the existing 3D model. Intercity Giorno Intercity Notte UCI-X coaches Gran Confort coaches MU coaches
Freight services As I previously mentioned, the route features two large freight yards, In Ventimiglia and Savona, and the Vado Ligure port. Since this is one of the most important freight ports in the Mediterranean, it offers a lot of potential for freight gameplay. Due to the remaining single-track sections, trains here are limited to a maximum length of 500 meters and run from Vado Ligure or Savona towards France, Spain, and Germany. Most of these are container or autorack trains. Rolling stock E.652 "Tigre" The E.652, affectionately known by Italians as the "Tigre" (Tiger), is a legendary workhorse of the Italian railways and a staple for heavy freight operations. It offers a more oldschool driving style and it's still one of the most common freight locos across italy. They are used by Trenitalias freight company Mercitalia Rail E.191 / E.193 "Vectron" The E.193 is technically identical to the BR 193 (which is already present in the game), whereas the E.191 is a slightly modified, DC-only locomotive designed specifically for domestic operations on the Italian railway network. On this route, it is common to see both the E.191 and E.193 in Railpool, MRCE, and Fuori Muro liveries. Although less frequent, the red DB Cargo livery can also sometimes be seen running on this line, exclusively on the E.193. E.494 "TRAXX" It is very similar to the BR 187, being its sister locomotive. It is a variant built to work on Italian railways, featuring a very similar body but with some differences in the pantographs, electrical equipment, and power output. These too are mainly used by Mercitalia. Timetable Obviously, I am not asking for all of these locomotives and coaches, as that would be unrealistic. I believe one of the EMUs, paired with the E.414 and its coaches, or alternatively, the E.464 and an additional freight loco or EMU, would be ideal. This would ensure most passenger services are driveable and make it much easier to populate potential future Italian routes. While I don't have the exact number of passenger services operating on this route, it should be roughly 100, not including freight, shunting operations, and empty stock movements. I will try to put together an Excel spreadsheet with a 2025/2026 timetable and post it here, just as I did for my other suggestion. Safety systems The Riviera di Ponente line primarily relies on the SCMT (Sistema Controllo Marcia Treno). The SCMT is Italy's standard intermittent protection system, triggering emergency brakes if signals are violated by reading data from physical trackside transponders. Conceptually, it mirrors Germany's PZB, as both rely on discontinuous, spot-based data transmission. However, SCMT calculates dynamic onboard braking curves, whereas traditional PZB relies on rigid speed checks at fixed time intervals. On the section between Andora and Ventimiglia another type of safety system, BACC (Blocco Automatico a Correnti Codificate), is working alongside SCMT. BACC provides continuous cab signalling by transmitting electrical codes directly through the running rails, enabling speeds up to 180 km/h. Its continuous communication philosophy aligns with Germany's LZB. However, while BACC sends limited discrete codes via the rails, LZB uses a dedicated central induction cable to stream dynamic, high-capacity data, supporting high-speed operations up to 300 km/h. Thank you for reading all this, I hope you like my suggestion and let me know if you have anything to add!
