Five new trains for Leonardo Express rail link to Rome airport.

Rome's Leonardo Express airport rail link has been boosted following the launch of five new state-of-the-art trains on 2 October, during a ceremony at Termini station attended by Italy's transport minister Graziano Delrio, the Lazio region governor Nicola Zingaretti and the head of Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane (FS) Michele Mario Elia.

The five-car Jazz Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) trains, which join the Leonardo Express service between Termini and Fiumicino airport, can reach speeds of 160km/h and have around 250 seats each. They are equipped with larger luggage racks and arrive flush with the platform, allowing passengers to wheel their luggage on and off the trains with ease.

Following the recent increases to the Leonardo Express fleet, there are currently 55 trains running in each direction every day, offering some 66,000 seats between Termini and Fiumicino.

The fleet was ordered in November 2012, purchased with funds from Trenitalia and the Lazio region, and the trains were assembled at Alstom's plant in Savigliano, just south of Turin in northern Italy.

Trenitalia and the Lazio region are currently assessing further investments in services to be made during the period 2015-2020.

In the last three years the number of daily train connections in Lazio has increased, by seven per cent, from 838 to 895. The lines most affected by extra services have been the FL1 (Orte-Fara Sabina-Fiumicino); FL3 (Cesano-Viterbo-Rome); FL5 (Civitavecchia-Ladispoli-Rome); FL6 (Cassino-Frosinone-Colleferro-Rome); FL7 (Minto-Formia-Latin-Rome); FL8 (Neptune-Aprilia-Rome); and the Terni-Rieti-L'Aquila service.