A concept based on the way a motorcyclist combats centrifugal forces by leaning into a bend is behind a recent revolution in rail travel. Fiat Ferroviaria, whose commercial success in the rail industry started with the introduction of its first diesel engines for trains back in the 1930's, has developed the idea of a tilting train so that passengers can travel in greater comfort at higher speeds.The idea, which originated at the end of the 1960's has been thoroughly tested in Italy, a country whose mountainous geography means roads and railway tracks often have to follow rather tortuous routes. The first prototype of the train, the Y0160 built in 1967, quickly earned the nickname 'Pendolino' which has stuck ever since. The Italian State Railways started running the ETR 450 version of the tilting train in 1988 and soon had 15 in service. Now Swiss, Finnish, Spanish, Portuguese and Czech passengers can enjoy the smooth, fast ride on trains whose maximum angle of lean is just 8 degrees, but which can achieve speeds 30 - 35% higher than conventional rolling stock. The German rail company Deutsche Bundesbahn bought 20 VT610 tilting diesel trains some years ago and has recently ordered 83 trains in a new electric version, known as the ICT. Malaysia has also placed an order for seven trains with an option on a further 15.Today's ETR 460 and its smaller counterparts the S220 and ETR 470 (bought by Italian, Finnish and Swiss rail companies respectively) are third generation trains. Just like aircraft cabins, the carriages are pressurised to eliminate the irritating changes in pressure which occurs when two trains pass each other or when a train goes through a tunnel.The Pendolino's top, straight-line speed is 250 km/h. Whilst this is not as high as the 300km/h or so reached by the French TGV and the Italian ETR 500, for which Fiat Ferroviaria designed and built the carriages, it is still far faster than traditional trains. The Pendolino also has the advantage of being able to run on standard tracks.Journey times have been dramatically reduced by the Pendolino because of its high straight-line speed and faster travel around bends, and whilst high speed trains may be viable on some busy routes, the level of investment required in track makes them impractical for most. Better by far to invest in the constantly evolving technology involved in tilting trains. Future research projects will look into developments which will further improve weight reduction and increase speed. Today's Pendolino already makes use of a load bearing body made of aluminium based alloys from the aeronautical industry which keeps the train's weight right down. Reducing the weight even further will mean less wear and tear on the rails, too. A "Superpendolino" is on the drawing board at the moment, promising speeds of 300 km/h on high speed sections of track.