Italy's highest court on Friday quashed the manslaughter conviction of the former head of the Italian railways over a freight train disaster that killed 32 people in 2009.
At least 27 people died on Tuesday in a head-on collision between two trains in the southern Italian region of Puglia in the latest rail tragedy to hit Europe.
Police fired water cannon on Tuesday at protesters on boats in front of Venice's Saint Mark's Square, as they demonstrated against a Franco-Italian accord on a controversial high-speed
rail link.
The head of Italy's national rail operator said on Thursday the Ferrovia dello Stato's privatization would not necessarily take place in 2016, as previously announced, but when the company is ready.
Passengers will face transport misery this weekend as rail workers across Italy strike over changes to working hours, an increase in the retirement age and potential privatization.
Hitachi said on Tuesday it would buy the rail and traffic signal businesses of Italy's Finmeccanica, in a deal that could reach more than $2.0 billion as it looks to take on global rail giants.
Italy on Wednesday took the first concrete step towards privatizing its railway system and listing it on the stock exchange as part of efforts to cut the country's gargantuan public debt.
Protesters seeking to block a high-speed rail link between France and Italy that they call a waste of public money clashed with police on Wednesday in Rome, where the two countries' leaders were meeting.
A six-metre-wide drill roared to life on Tuesday in Chiomonte in northeast Italy and began boring a reconnaissance tunnel for a controversial fast train from Lyon, France to Turin, Italy.
