Rail transport in Italy high-speed train was the Italian ETR 200, which in July 1939 went from Milan to Florence at , with a top speed of . With this service, the railway was able to compete with the upcoming airplanes. The Second World War stopped these services. After the Second World War, Italy started to repair the damaged railways, and built nearly of new tracks. Nowadays the rail tracks and infrastructure are managed by Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI), while the train and the passenger section is managed mostly by Trenitalia. Both are Ferrovie dello Stato (FS) subsidiaries, once the only train operator in
Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane Transport was created, including the general management of Ferrovie dello Stato, and in 1945, the company was renamed "Azienda Autonoma delle Ferrovie dello Stato". The period after World War II was particularly tough for Ferrovie dello Stato, since most of the Italian rail network was severely damaged and the rolling stock was obsolete. The network was rebuilt almost entirely by 1952. Since then, a period of renewal started. New trains were introduced, among them the ETR 300, and many sections of the national network were electrified and sometimes doubled. In 1957, the new ALn 442/448 multiple unit was introduced, greatly