Frecciarossa Milan-Munich: New High-Speed Train Route Coming in 2027

If you have ever wished you could take a single train from Milan all the way to Munich, the wait just got shorter. Trenitalia has started test runs of the Frecciarossa high-speed trains that will operate the new international route, part of a joint project with Germany’s Deutsche Bahn and Austria’s ÖBB.

The Milan-Munich service is expected to launch in the summer of 2027, once the trains complete international certification in both countries. Here is what is confirmed so far about the route, the stops and the travel time.

Test runs are already underway in Germany and Austria

Before any new train can run commercially outside Italy, it has to go through international certification: actually running on the destination country’s tracks, fitted with technical instruments, to prove it is compatible with the local signalling and power supply systems.

That is the phase now underway. In Germany, the Frecciarossa is being tested on the Berlin-Munich-Kufstein line. In Austria, test runs are taking place between Kufstein and the Brenner Pass and between Salzburg and Vienna.

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The Milan-Munich route: stops and travel time

On launch, the route will run with four daily connections combined between Milan-Munich and Rome-Munich. For travellers based in Milan, the relevant one is this:

Route	Travel time	Main stops
Milan – Munich	About 6 hours 30 minutes	Brescia, Verona, Rovereto, Trento, Bolzano, Innsbruck
Rome – Munich	About 8 hours 30 minutes	Florence, Bologna, Verona, Rovereto, Trento, Bolzano, Innsbruck

The Milan-Munich train runs through Trentino-Alto Adige and the Austrian Tyrol, stopping in Trento, Bolzano and Innsbruck before reaching Bavaria, a scenic alternative to flying for anyone who prefers to watch the Alps go by from a window seat.

The Brenner Base Tunnel will cut the trip even further

A separate infrastructure project should make the trip even faster in the coming years: the Brenner Base Tunnel, currently under construction between Fortezza, in Italy, and Innsbruck, in Austria. Once it opens, it is expected to cut around one hour off the travel time between Italy and Germany, on both the Milan and the Rome route.

Built to cross borders: Trenitalia, Deutsche Bahn and ÖBB

Running a train across three countries is not only about the tracks. Each European rail network uses its own electric power and signalling systems, and the train has to be able to handle all of them.

That is where the technical partnership with Deutsche Bahn comes in: the two companies are sharing expertise to adapt the trains to these different systems, which speeds up the process and keeps costs down. At the same time, German and Austrian train drivers are already in training to operate the new Frecciarossa services.

The Frecciarossa already runs outside Italy on routes to France and Spain. It was designed to also operate on the rail networks of Switzerland, the Netherlands and Belgium, in addition to Germany and Austria.

What comes next for travellers based in Milan

Munich is only the first stop. From December 2028, Trenitalia plans to expand the offer to ten daily connections between Italy and Germany, covering Milan, Rome and Munich and extending further to Naples, in Italy, and Berlin, in Germany.

Trenitalia also expects the new route to make connections easier towards other destinations that currently require more complicated changes, such as Frankfurt and Kraków.

Related: High-Speed Train Tickets in Italy: Where to Buy and How to Save