I rode on the new Italian train, the Frecciarossa, yesterday.

I've seen these distinctive 355 km/h (220 mile/h) ETR 500 trains before, but this was my first opportunity to ride one. And I was impressed - I have ridden on the Shanghai Maglev at 432 km/h, but I don't think I've been as fast as 355 km/h on rails.

I rode in standard class between Milano Centrale and Bologna.

It was fairly easy to find the right platform at Milano, despite much reconstruction work being done there. The main departure screens only showed the final destination (Rome, in this case): I had to find the indicator at the head of the platform to check that the train called at Bologna.

The external livery is red (hence the name - Red Arrow). Inside, the seating is comfortable in tables for four. The overall impression is light, bright and airy. They have 12 passenger cars and a power car at each end.

One drawback seems to be that reserved seats carry no indication that they are reserved: if you haven't reserved a seat, you just have to occupy one and hope that no-one turns up to claim it! And, of course, if it's unreserved between Milano and Bologna but reserved on to Rome and you are going the whole way - you lose your seat! The issue led to a lot of discussion on the train I rode!

We left within 33 seconds of the booked departure time of 11:30, so I'll count that as punctual. Don't get me started on the perceived punctuality of trains outside the UK!

These high-speed trains take 65 minutes for the journey, compared with either 105 or 130 by ordinary train.

Announcements were generally in both Italian and English.

We had a one minute dead stand at a signal check while on the conventional line close to Milano, but thereafter ran very smoothly to Bologna. The line runs alongside a motorway: traffic on that seems to be standing still!

The line is well engineered, with wide (by European standards) margins at either side. There are some impressive flying junctions: the network is obviously incomplete, with some lines starting to diverge but with no wires up and not going anywhere, or ballasted formation waiting to have tracks laid.

At regular intervals, there are well-constructed buildings beside the track - probably for maintenance teams.

At various points, there are sound barriers of different heights. Some have transparent polycarbonate for the top metre or so - but when they are very tall, this isn't as much value for the passenger trying to see the countryside as the manufacturers thought! In urban areas, some have attracted graffiti.

The ride was very smooth and quiet: we arrived at Bologna (where there was a four minute station stop time - why so long?) less than a minute late.

Yes, I was impressed.