THE last few remaining Italian Railways Class 444 ‘Tartarughe’ (Tortoise) electric locos are expected to be withdrawn by December.
They are being replaced by more modern locos, and most recently by second-hand, Italian-built ‘Fyra’ high-speed trains from The Netherlands.
Italian State Railways introduced the first Class 444 locos in 1967 when they were the most powerful and fastest locos in Italy, at 3,420kW and 180kph, respectively.

After five prototypes had been built another 112 locos were ordered and delivered between 1968 and 1975. The production locos were more powerful at 4,200 kW and faster, approved for 200kph.
When new the locos had curved styling and were given the nickname ‘Tartarughe’ with deliberate irony as they were in fact the fastest locos in the fleet. For many years some locos carried tortoise logos.
Read more in the August 2019 issue of The RM – on sale now!
Railway Reads
From the history of steam through to 21st century rail transport news, we have titles that cater for all rail enthusiasts. Covering diesels, modelling, steam and modern railways, check out our range of magazines and fantastic subscription offers.Get The Railway Hub Weekly Round-up
Enter your e-mail address below and you will receive weekly rail news straight into your inbox...You can unsubscribe at any time.

About the Author
- Manchester services will ‘significantly improve’ from May 2022 - 15th January 2021
- Anger over funding cuts for northern transport schemes - 15th January 2021
- Network Rail slams ‘staggeringly stupid’ TikTok of live railway photoshoot - 15th January 2021