About High-speed rail in Italy consists of two lines connecting most of the country's major cities. The first line connects Turin to Salerno via Milan, Bologna, Florence, Rome and Naples, the second runs from Turin to Venice via Milan and Verona, and is under construction in parts. Trains are operated with a top speed of 300 km/h (190 mph). Passenger service is provided by Trenitalia and since April 2012, by NTV, the world's first private open-access operator of high-speed rail to compete with a state-owned monopoly. 25 million passengers travelled on the network in 2011. In 2015, ridership increased to 55 million for Trenitalia and 9.1 million for NTV for a combined 64 million passengers. Lines Rollingstock AGV 575 ETR 500 ETR 1000 ETR 485 ETR 600 ETR 610 ETR 675 ERT 700
Would love to get Italy in the game, but it would be best to suggest an individual line that is doable for DTG as a first project. The longest current DLC is KWG at 186km. SEHS is 143km. From the list provided, Turin-Milan, Bologna-Florence, or Milan-Verona would be typical DTG length routes for a high speed line. Maybe Milan-Verona would be a good start as you would have more variety with speed and voltage changes. Or you could pick one of these and add in some commuter lines to make an Italian version of SEHS.
I’d like Rome - Naples with ETR 500, and 1000 too if feasible. Is Naples - Salerno the (and apologies, I don’t know the proper name) rickety trains route with the plastic bucket seats that stops near Herculaneum etc.? Would be cool to have that too I suppose, though maybe as a separate DLC and route hopping given Naples - Rome length. Though I’d be completely up for having them together, and the walk between the Napoli Termini and Garibaldi being modelled.
So... Let's say that the currently feasible lines are the Florence-Bologna and Milan-Turin. Florence-Rome and Bologna-Milan are too long (200+ km)! Florence-Bologna is about 80km long and is mostly in tunnels (like Kassel-Würzburg). Milan-Turin is 127km. It runs rather parallel to the old slow line. The Milan-Verona line is now complete only up to Brescia. It's about 165km long, but there are long underground areas here too (between Brescia and Verona especially). It will be completed soon! As for traction stock, I'd prefer to focus on 300+ Km/h units (ETR 400 (1000),500 and 575)! The 575s and 500s are capable of 360km/h, while 1000s of 400km/h! However, they only run at 300km/h at the moment... I remember that the entire Italian AV network is equipped with ERTMS/ETCS L2 as integrated safety and signaling system! The power supply is 25kV AC on high-speed sections and 3kV DC on ordinary ones (outside the access ramps). I'd love to see an Italian AV route! Well, because I'm from there!
