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 Italian network. In 1988, the ETR 450 Pendolino was travelling regularly at , today's top speed on the line. The line was the fastest in Europe after the French TGV lines. The old logo was renewed in 1982 and again in 1994, with the introduction of the "XMPR" livery. The "FS" was left unchanged in its administrative structure until the end of 1985. From the following year, after 80 years, the "Azienda Autonoma delle Ferrovie dello Stato" was replaced by a new company, "Ferrovie dello Stato". The newly born "Ferrovie dello Stato" underwent major structural transformations between 1986 and 1992.