Pendolino (from Italian "pendulum", and -ino, a diminutive suffix) is an Italian family of high-speed tilting trains (and non-tilting) used in Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia (operated by Czech railways), the UK, the US, Switzerland, China, and Greece. It was also used in Russia from December 12, 2010, until March 26, 2022. Based on the design of the Italian ETR 401, it was further developed and manufactured by Fiat Ferroviaria, which was later acquired by Alstom in 2000.
The idea of a tilting train became popular in the 1960s and 1970s, when various rail operators, impressed by the high-speed rail services being introduced in France and Japan, wondered how they could similarly speed up travel without building a dedicated parallel rail network (as those two countries were doing). By tilting, the train could go around curves designed for slower trains at higher speeds without causing undue discomfort to passengers. Another example of a tilting train, successive to the Pendolino, was the British Rail Class 370.
Current use
Italy
In Italy, various possibilities were explored (including one early design for fixed carriages with tilting seats). A number of prototypes were built and tested, including an automotrice (self-propelled) derived from ALn 668 diesel car and provided with tilting seats. The first working prototype using a tilting carbody was ETR Y 0160, an electrically powered car launched by Fiat in 1969. This was the first to be christened Pendolino.
It led to the construction of a whole EMU in 1975, the ETR 401, built in two units by FIAT. One was put into public service on 2 July 1976 on the Rome-Ancona (later extended to Rimini) line, operated by Italian State Railways. Between Roma and Ancona (km. 295) the train took 2 hours and 50 minutes while the ordinary trains took 3 hours and 30 minutes. The train had four cars and was mostly considered a travelling laboratory for the new technology. The second unit was adapted for service to the broad gauge Renfe Spanish lines.
In 1982, FS retired the ETR 401 from service, due to high maintenance cost, and FIAT transformed it in a train-laboratory, to test the parts for the successor of the ETR 401, ETR 450. After 1988, the trainset went around Europe to demonstrate the greatness of the tilting revolutionary technology and between 1994 and 2001 it was utilised as a charter train. In 2001 the ETR 401 was put aside in Ancona and since 2013, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the first official pendolino service, it has been partly restored.
On 29 May 1988, the ETR 450 became the first pendolino to enter in a high-speed regular service in the world. The new train was similar to its predecessor, utilising many electronic parts such as the chopper and the automatic gear.
Characterized by a nine-car configuration, the 15 ETR 450 trainsets could run the Rome-Milan line in under four hours, at speeds up to , with a comfort level same as the best TEE's cars at the speed of . Passenger numbers increased from 220,000 in 1988 to 2.2million in 1993.
In 1994, the next generation, the ETR 460, styled by Giorgetto Giugiaro, began service. Though plagued by technical teething problems, the ETR 460 introduced several innovations, such as more powerful AC asynchronous motors. Further, the pistons actuating the anti-tilting action were placed in the bogie instead of on the carbody sides: this permitted the reorganisation of the vestibules and passenger compartment areas, improving comfort. The bogie-to-body connection is extremely simple and easy to make, with clear advantages for maintenance.
ETR 460 keeps axle load to an extremely low level (14.5ton/axle) to allow the train to negotiate curves up to 35% faster than conventional intercity trains (loco plus coaches). The body, which exploits large aluminium extrusion technology, has substantial modularity and allows for extremely low axle weight, whilst fully respecting the highest safety standards, and allows the best exploitation of the space with different loading gauges.
Fiat Ferroviaria built only ten ETR 460 trainsets. Improved versions include nine ETR 470 built for the Italo-Swiss Cisalpino company and 15 ETR 480 / 485 used by Trenitalia under AC lines such as those in France and Switzerland. A total of 34 EMUs of the ETR 460/470/480 - 485 series were built.
Fiat Ferroviaria was sold to Alstom in 2000. The development of the Pendolino technology continued in Alstom's Italian factories and the next generation, the New Pendolino, was delivered to Trenitalia and Cisalpino, as the ETR 600 and the ETR 610, from 2006.
Spain Even before the first Pendolino EMU was built in Italy, in 1972, Fiat and Renfe signed an agreement for cooperation in tilting-train development. The first fruit of the cooperation was the equipment of a Renfe Class 432 EMU with the active tilting suspension in September 1972. After successful tests, Spanish trainmaker CAF and Fiat built a prototype similar to the ETR 401, which was delivered in 1976 as Renfe Class 443, nicknamed Platanito (Little banana) for its yellow livery. The four-car train had a commercial top speed of and achieved a then speed record for Spain of on 6 May 1987. However, the train remained a unique specimen, as Renfe favoured the entirely domestic Talgo Pendular, a tilting train with passive suspension introduced in 1980. After revenue service in 1979–1982, the train was used for charter and test runs.
Two decades later, to speed up services along its Madrid-Valencia conventional line, Renfe ordered ten Pendolini in 1996. The trains, based on the ETR 460 and ETR 470, were delivered by a joint consortium of Fiat Ferroviaria and GEC-Alsthom from 1998 as Renfe Class 490. The three-car trains are suited for on Renfe's conventional lines electrified with 3 kV DC. The Class 490 took up the new Madrid-Valencia Alaris services in 1999. With growing demand, the capacity of the Class 490 was no longer sufficient, and from February 2008, the trains were transferred to the Mediterráneo line between Valencia and Barcelona.
For medium-distance services along its high-speed lines, Renfe ordered a non-tilting variant of the Pendolino, based on the ETR 480, in 2001. The 20 four-car trains with a service top speed of were built jointly by Alstom and CAF and delivered as the Renfe Class 104. Renfe deployed them for the new Avant services along the Madrid–Seville high-speed rail line, starting 29 December 2004.
Renfe ordered another 30 non-tilting medium-distance high-speed trains from Alstom/CAF in a follow-on order, which was later reduced to 13 units. However, these trains are based on the New Pendolino design. The first train of the new class designated Renfe Class 114 was presented in autumn 2008. Most of them are used in services along the Madrid–Valladolid high-speed line.
Germany
The West German federal railways DB experimented with tilting technology in the 1970s, but abandoned it. Then in 1987, DB commissioned a study on whether electrification or purchasing diesel tilting trains would be the better option for the Nuremberg-Hof line, and decided for the latter. In 1988, DB ordered ten tilting DMUs, and another ten in 1990. All 20 trains of the new DB Class 610 were delivered in 1992. The two-car trains with a top speed of were produced by a consortium of five German companies and Fiat Ferroviaria. Fiat supplied the bogies, the hydraulic tilting suspension, and the other parts of the tilting technology, thus the trains could be called Pendolino (a Fiat trademarked brand name).
Deutsche Bahn ordered more regional and express tilting DMUs with other technology (class 611 and class 612: Adtranz/Bombardier, ICE TD/class 605: Siemens). However, for the electric ICE T trains ordered in 1994 for service on conventional lines, Pendolino technology was chosen again. Fiat (Alstom) supplied the bogies and tilting technology for the 32 seven-car class 411 and 11 five-car class 415 express trains that entered service from 1999. In 2002, DB placed another order for slightly modified class 411 trains, Alstom Ferroviaria was again supplier of bogies and tilt technology when the 28 trains were delivered from 2004 to 2006.
Switzerland
Since the failure of Cisalpino, a joint venture between the Italian Trenitalia and the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), the Pendolinos used for transalpine transport between Switzerland and Italy, on the Gotthard and Lötschberg axis routes, were split between Trenitalia (five ETR 470 and seven ETR 610) and SBB (four ETR 470 and seven ETR 610). The low reliability of the timetable and of the ETR 470 has led SBB and Trenitalia to always have a reserve train ready at each terminus of the Milan-Zürich route.
In 2012, SBB ordered eight new ETR 610 with delivery in 2015 to be operated on the Milan - Geneva and Milan - Zürich routes.RailwayTechnology: Alstom to supply eight Pendolino trains to Switzerland's SBB
Finland
The Finnish model, the class Sm3, is based on the ETR 460 but was adapted to the specific requirements of VR Group (formerly the Finnish State Railways) and to the cold climatic conditions. The first two units were assembled in 1995 by Rautaruukki-Transtech. A total of sixteen additional units were purchased from Alstom and shipped to Finland between 2000 and 2006. Sm3 trains operate from Helsinki to the cities of Turku, Tampere, Jyväskylä, Oulu, Kouvola, Joensuu and Vaasa.
The trains are composed of six carriages. Four cars are fitted with two asynchronous three-phase AC motors (one for each bogie); two are unpowered but are fitted with pantographs. One of these coaches is a restaurant carriage. The motors deliver a continuous power of and propel the train at a maximum speed of .
The Sm3 has received a lot of bad publicity in Finland for its reliability issues, mostly caused by technical problems in cold weather with the tilting system and couplers. VR has tried to mitigate the problem by coupling trains only at termini instead of intermediate stations and switching the tilting system off during winter. The trains were expected to receive significant maintenance between 2012 and 2014, to improve reliability of couplers and the tilting system.
Karelian Trains, a 50-50 joint venture between VR and the Russian Railways, operated four 1522 mm gauge class Sm6 seven-car Pendolinos for use on Allegro () Saint Petersburg–Helsinki services. Service started on December 12, 2010, reducing travel time between the cities from five and a half hours to three and a half hours at first and later to three hours. The bogies were specially constructed to allow for speed both at the Finnish gauge and the Russian gauge .
Allegro services were suspended on March 27, 2022, as per VR's announcement that operating a connection between Russia and Finland no longer served a purpose due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. VR subsequently took control of the trainsets, and they entered domestic service in Finland in November 2025.
Portugal
In Portugal the Pendolino is named Alfa Pendular and is operated by the Portuguese state railway company CP. It connects the cities of Guimarães, Braga, Porto, Aveiro, Coimbra, Santarém, Lisbon, Albufeira and Faro, among others, and has a top speed of . The bogies had to be redesigned for operation on Portugal's broad gauge track, and the trains were assembled by Adtranz Portugal at the Amadora plant (former Sorefame). Main contractor was Fiat Ferroviaria later acquired by Alstom with two main subcontractors Adtranz and Siemens that was responsible for the traction and train control.
Ten six-car train sets were produced between 1998 and 2001, with commercial operation from early 1999. Based on the ETR 460 the Portuguese Pendolino differs mainly from its predecessor from the carbody width that takes advantage of the Iberian gauge .
Slovenia