SNCF buys into Italian rail plan

France’s state railway, SNCF, is pushing ahead with its cross-border expansion by taking a 20 per cent stake in NTV, an Italian consortium that plans to launch Europe’s first privately operated high-speed train service in 2011.

The tie-up is the latest empire-building move among major state-owned railways taking advantage of Europe’s railway deregulation and challenging airlines on some of their most profitable domestic routes.