Italo announced on Wednesday that its high-speed trains would soon be providing a new direct link between the two cities, starting from June 14, Italian financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore reported.
The next day, Trenitalia also announced its own high-speed trains would run on the same route, from June 3 – coinciding with the planned date for resuming interregional travel across Italy.
The Italian government has said unrestricted travel between regions will once again be possible from this date, as well as between EU countries – though one government minister on Thursday warned that this will be decided region by region, depending on the risk of infection in each.
Trenitalia said it plans to double the number of trains in operation from early June, and will be providing all passengers with a “safety kit” including a mask, hand sanitiser, gloves and a disposable headrest.
Most of Italy’s high-speed services had been suspended under Italy’s lockdown, as all non-urgent travel was banned.
The current rules forbid non-essential travel between regions until at least June 2.
The announcement comes after Italy recorded 50 new deaths from coronavirus overnight, against 119 the day before.
However, the civil protection agency added that the data did not include deaths from the worst affected region, Lombardy, due to technical problems.
The daily tally of new cases declined to 531 on Sunday (local time) from 669 on Saturday.
The official death toll since the outbreak came to light on February 21 now stands at 32,785, the third highest in the world after those of the United States and Britain.
