The infrastructure of the new line was completed in April 2008 with its electrification, which operates at 3 kV
DC, not the 25 kV
AC used on most new high-speed railways in Italy. It became available for training in May 2008 and for public operations in the following month. The line allows the reduction of congestion of rail traffic on the
Naples–Salerno coast line, as trains can travel on the new line. The new line starts at
Roma Est junction, which allows trains from the
Rome–Naples high-speed line to continue south on a branch to
Casoria junction where there is a link with the main rail node of Naples. The line passes the towns of
Volla,
Pomigliano d'Arco,
Sant'Anastasia,
Somma Vesuviana,
Nola,
Ottaviano,
San Gennaro Vesuviano,
Palma Campania,
Poggiomarino and
Striano, through a series of small cut-and-cover tunnels and elevated sections, reaching the commune of
San Valentino Torio, where it currently connects at
Sarno junction to the end of the line from Sarno. The Italian government announced in an economic statement in July 2004 that a future high-capacity line would be built from the end of the line at San Valentino Torio to Battipaglia to create a four-track line through Salerno to
Battipaglia as part of a project to build a high-capacity trunk line to
Reggio Calabria. The new line has allowed high-speed trains to avoid Naples since the opening of the section from
Roma Est junction to the new
Napoli Afragola station in June 2017. From June 2008, most
Trenitalia Eurostar Italia, Intercity and Intercity Plus trains between Naples and Salerno were routed over the new line, allowing an increase in commuter trains on the old coast line under a project to develop a
Campania "regional metro". ==Proposed new Vesuvio Est interchange station==