The Italian-designed tilting high-speed train family used in Italy, the UK, and Poland is Pendolino.
Pendolino is an Italian family of trains whose name comes from pendolo, the Italian word for “pendulum.” Their active tilting systems allow the carriages to lean into curves, helping trains travel faster on existing winding railways without requiring entirely new straight high-speed lines.
The concept was developed in Italy during the 1960s. Fiat Ferroviaria produced the experimental ETR 401, which entered public service in 1976 on the Rome–Ancona route. The technology later spread internationally, with Pendolino variants operating in countries including Italy, the United Kingdom, Poland, Portugal, Finland, and the Czech Republic.
Pendolino is a family name rather than one specific train model. ETR 600 and ETR 610 are Italian examples, while Britain’s Virgin-branded tilting services used Pendolino trains based on the Class 390. ETR 1000, Velaro, and Talgo are different train families, even though some may also be associated with high-speed rail or tilting technology.