卢卡·科尔德罗·迪·蒙特泽莫罗从不回避挑战；这位意大利企业家曾担任法拉利主席逾二十年，并带领其赛车部门赢得19个一级方程式世界冠军，还曾执掌菲亚特、意大利工商界游说团体Confindustria，并组织罗马申办2024年奥运会。如今，他最大胆的目标或许是把2006年共同创立的高速铁路运营商Italo带入德国市场，重塑该国陷入危机的铁路行业。 到2028年，Italo希望新服务沿两条主线连接德国18座城市：慕尼黑-科隆-多特蒙德和慕尼黑-柏林-汉堡。该项目计划投资36亿欧元（42亿美元），其中包括向西门子购买30列高速列车，并保留再购14列的选择权。

Italo在意大利的经验显示，竞争可以迅速压低票价：尽管意大利国有铁路公司Ferrovie dello Stato百般阻挠，Italo仍在2012年成功推出服务，而随后七年意大利铁路票价下降了约40%。然而，德国铁路公司Deutsche Bahn近年来严重失灵，长期投资不足后，2004年网络建设与现代化年度预算从40亿欧元削减至15亿欧元，德国政府去年虽创纪录注资220亿欧元，首席执行官仍估计恢复正常大约还需10年。 Italo能否复制这一结果取决于能否获得轨道准入，而这一权限由Deutsche Bahn旗下的DB InfraGO掌握，虽然受联邦网络局监管，但其收费高昂且通常只按一年而非多年发放准入。蒙特泽莫罗表示，公司愿意每年支付2.5亿欧元，但要让36亿欧元投资可行，必须获得数年期批准。

支持者认为，欧洲应加快开放国内铁路市场，因为欧盟十年前通过的第四铁路方案已推动部分国家竞争加剧；西班牙的高速铁路市场如今由国营Renfe、由意大利国家铁路子公司持股多数的Iryo以及法国国铁SNCF共同争夺。 但德国等国仍在犹豫，交通专家克里斯蒂安·伯特格认为，尽管Italo进入意大利市场的效果令人信服，德国网络已不堪重负，而Italo还可能削弱Deutsche Bahn的高速铁路业务及其依赖候车室和BahnCard忠诚计划的综合商业模式。 蒙特泽莫罗希望本月获得轨道准入决定；若获批准，Italo计划在2028年前覆盖18城并投放30列列车，若遭否决，其德国扩张方案可能就此脱轨。

Luca Cordero di Montezemolo never shies away from a challenge; the Italian executive spent more than two decades as Ferrari chairman and led its racing division to 19 Formula One world championships, and he also headed Fiat, Italy’s business lobby Confindustria, and Rome’s bid for the 2024 Olympics. His boldest goal now may be to bring Italo, the high-speed rail operator he co-founded in 2006, into Germany and reshape the country’s crisis-hit railway industry. By 2028, Italo wants its new service to connect 18 German cities along two main routes: Munich-Cologne-Dortmund and Munich-Berlin-Hamburg. The project calls for €3.6bn ($4.2bn) of investment, including 30 high-speed trains from Siemens and an option to buy 14 more.

Italo’s Italian record suggests competition can quickly cut prices: despite fierce resistance from Ferrovie dello Stato, Italy’s state railway, Italo launched in 2012, and rail fares there fell by about 40% over the next seven years. Germany’s Deutsche Bahn, however, is far more troubled, with years of underinvestment leaving a dilapidated network; after annual infrastructure spending was cut in 2004 from €4bn to €1.5bn, the government last year injected a record €22bn, but the chief executive still says roughly a decade is needed to get back on track. Whether Italo can repeat that result depends on access to tracks controlled by DB InfraGO, a Deutsche Bahn arm overseen by the Federal Network Agency, whose charges are high and whose access is usually granted yearly rather than for multiple years. Montezemolo says the company is ready to pay €250m a year, but argues that multi-year approval is necessary to make the €3.6bn investment viable.

Supporters say Europe should move faster to open domestic rail markets, because the EU’s Fourth Railway Package, adopted ten years ago, has already spurred competition in some countries. In Spain, the high-speed rail market is now contested by the state-owned Renfe, Iryo, majority-owned by a subsidiary of Italy’s Ferrovie dello Stato, and SNCF, France’s national railway company. But Germany and others have hesitated, and transport expert Christian Böttger says that although Italo’s impact in Italy is convincing, Germany’s network is already overburdened and Italo could weaken Deutsche Bahn’s high-speed service and its integrated business model built on station lounges and the BahnCard loyalty program. Montezemolo hopes for a track-access decision this month; if approved, Italo aims to serve 18 cities with 30 trains by 2028, but without it, the expansion could be derailed.

Source: Can an Italian company disrupt Germany’s broken railway industry?

Subtitle: Deutsche Bahn could soon have a rival

Dateline: 5月 21, 2026 03:20 上午 | BERLIN