Starlink put to the high-speed test: here’s how to get 300 internet on Italo trains
Satellite connection trial on the Bologna–Milan route: up to 192 Mbps, video calls and streaming without interruptions. 19 out of 51 trains have already been fitted; the entire fleet will be completed by March 2027
Key points
In Bologna, the satellite signal is not detectable. The train is stationary in the underground high-speed station, and the speed test shows 11.2 megabits per second for download, 12.2 for upload and 90 milliseconds of latency. But there are clearly metres of concrete above the train, and Starlink – the satellite network run by Elon Musk’s SpaceX – doesn’t work without a clear view of the sky. Italo has signed an agreement with Starlink to provide connections worthy of the name even whilst travelling.
Ten minutes is all it takes for the picture to change. Once we’ve left Bologna heading towards Milan, the download speed rises to 137 Mbps, the upload speed to 8.7, and the latency drops to 69 milliseconds. Shortly afterwards, the connection reaches 192 Mbps. This is not quite the 400 Mbps-plus achieved by Italo during almost a year of testing on trains travelling at 300 kilometres per hour, but it is enough to show that train Wi-Fi need no longer be the lottery that passengers have become accustomed to.
More than half the fleet covered
The promise from the rail operator, which is part of the MSC Group, is that all of this will become a guaranteed reality for Italo passengers, on any train and anywhere in Italia. “By the end of the year, 45 out of 51 trains will be fitted with the system. By March, we will have completed the work on the entire fleet,” says Gianbattista La Rocca, CEO of Italo, speaking to Il Sole 24 Ore. Currently, 19 trains are equipped with this system; by the end of September, this figure will rise to 27, representing over half the fleet. Then the roll-out will accelerate: 45 by December and all 51 trains currently available by March 2027. The new trains will be fitted with the system as standard, just like the Siemens trains destined for Germany.
Staying connected whilst travelling
At the heart of it all lies an issue that no one can hide: the quality of the connection, which epitomises one of the small yet significant paradoxes of Italian transport: travelling at breakneck speed whilst, at the same time, having an internet connection that does not always (or perhaps it would be better to say ‘rarely’) manage to keep up.
The agreement between Italo and Starlink aims, as mentioned, to make all this a thing of the past. “The technological investment in connectivity cost just over 10 million for the installations on the trains,” explains La Rocca. Added to this is “a few million euros a year” for service and maintenance. The internet connection is free of charge: it serves to improve quality and, above all, to attract business and international tourism.
