TAV stands for treni alta velocità—high speed trains. They are common now in many parts of Europe. Considering the time wasted getting to and from airports and being herded around inside of them, travel times by TAVs are competitive for mid-range distances of, say, 500-700 km (300-500 miles). The prices are competitive, too. The Italian TAVs provide service, for example, from Milan to Naples in as little as 4 hours and 10 minutes and from Rome to Naples in 1 hour and 10 minutes. The goal is to span the entire boot of Italy with a high-speed train corridor from Milan to Reggio Calabria. The high-speed corridor is largely complete as far south as Salerno.

Crucial to the completion of the network in the south is the planned interchange station at Afragola (image), near the main Naples train station. It will hook northern and southern Italy together, be linked to municipal Naples train services, and also provide easy access to the main north-south autostrada highway. That Afragola transfer station was started about five years ago, but work was interrupted almost immediately for financial reasons. Work is to start again on July 16 and will take 852 days to complete. (When they put the time in days—meaning "working days," so forget Sundays and holidays—it tricks you into not thinking of it as three years!). It will be a high-class "signature" station as they say when a high-class architect is called in—in this case, Iraqi-born futurist Zaha Hadid. She has about 20 completed structures throughout the world, and they are stunning, including, in Italy, the National Museum of the 21st Century Arts in Rome. The Afragola station will cover an area of some 38,000 sq, meters (about 9.3 acres) and include a large park and hotels.