FS ETR 220, 1960

The ETR 220 (for Elettro Treno Rapido 220) was a further development of the ETR 200 introduced in 1936 and withdrawn from revenue service in 1997. They are considered the first high-speed trains by some railway historians.

The first example was built by Società Italiana Ernesto Breda, (now AnsaldoBreda), in 1936, an articulated and traction-distributed train with three cars on four bogies, two of which were Jacobs bogies, had a single T 62-R-100 motor, while the others—at the front and rear—were provided with two similar motors each.

They were equipped with air conditioning and had only first-class seats.

On 20 July 1939 unit 212 obtained the railway speed record, between Bologna and Milan, running (on the average speed for the whole run) between Florence and Milan at 165 km/h (103 mph), and also improving the absolute top speed record up to 203 km/h (126 mph) in the stretch from Pontenure to Piacenza.

A total of 18 3-car sets were built and 2 had to be scrapped due to wartime damage, In the early 1960s, the remaining sixteen units were converted to ETR 220/230/240 by adding a fourth car and making other improvements. They remained in service until the early 1980s, and were later used for charter trains until the 1990s.