Frecciargento and Frecciabianca trains designation

You have the train number. That's all you need. It's when you DON'T have the train number that you need to know the final destination. "Designation" is not a term I've seen used in regard to trains.

Michael is correct. The important info is the train number, it is the first thing (as I remember) on the board. Also, the platform is often NOT posted until 30 mins or less to departure. So, don't panic when you show up an hour early and the train is not posted. If the trains is an arrival, we generally do not go down the platform until about 10 minutes because platforms have been known to change at the last minute. Rarely, but does happen.

In every large Italian train station that I have been in, there is a large piece of yellow paper that is behind glass that lists every train departing that station. Smaller stations have them as well but they will be smaller and more custom to the station. It lists the departures by time. Also listed is every stop the train makes on its run. Simply scan down the left side to see your departure time and then notice every stop the train makes. You will also see the final destination of the train. As mentioned above, the train number tells you everything and you can wait until you see it appear on the large digital boards in the large stations. This paper is a very nice piece of information in the stations that most new travelers are unaware of.

What do you mean by train designation? You appear to have the train numbers. Do you mean end destination? If you have the train number, the end destination is not important.

There are three types of Frecci trains. Freccibianca, Frecciargento and Frecciarossa. These names refer to different models of the Italian train. The Freccibianca is the slowest of the three at 200 km/h. The Frecciarossa is the fastest of the three at 360 km/h. The number you see associated with the type of train is simply the train run number assigned by Trenitalia. If you have purchased a ticket on one of these trains, that number will be on the ticket. It does refer to a specific depature time that you can see on the online schedule.

Thank you for the replies..... I been reading comments about the station in Rome Termini and the problem of travellers finding thier departure platforms. Every information I encounter says it is the train designation and the final destination I need to know in order to locate the correct platform to board my train. Example "Remember the Departure Boards only list the train's Last Stop. So your 0930 Eurostar Train to Florence might be listed as the '0930 ES Venezia'. So go by the TIME, the TYPE of train (ES, IC, IR etc) and the GENERAL DIRECTION".
Please help. Never been to Europe or Italy before. Thanks again. I just got a reply from another post. the Rome termini to civitavechia run will read of the Boards "12.10 ES Milano" I still wonder if the Rome termini to Venice run will read on the Boards "06.45 ES Venezia S.L." Again, thank you.

Larry, just so they do not get confused. There will be equally big white sheets behind glass listing all the arrival trains. Generally next to each other or across a small passage way area.

And if you're waiting for your train on a certain track with a bunch of other people and they all rush away after an announcement, your train has probably just been routed to a different track. :-)

Thank you Frank. Thank you Larry. Thank you Michael. If you say that with my train number in hand, I will be able to find my departure platform, I will be alright then. I am very glad we have a great gathering place like this to exchange and seek information about our vacations.

Domingo, As discussed, the train number alone will get you to the correct platform. I would encourage you, if you have a few extra minutes at the train station, to familiarize yourself with the yellow departure schedule as Larry has described. I think you'll find that understanding this schedule will give you more confidence in your train travel and enable you to deviate from your plans if necessary.

Also, I have seen in other posts, in the electronic boards, if the platform number is color yellow, it is a preliminary information. It becomes final only when the color becomes/or in color white.

And if you really want to boost your confidence, I highly recommend going to Ron In Rome's info on Riding Trains in Italy. It's loaded with photos and even some videos to help demystify the whole process.

domingo, A few more details to mention...... The Freccia trains always have compulsory reservations, so you'll be assigned a Car number (Carozza) and a Seat number (Posti). You'll need to make sure that you board the correct car and take the correct seat, or you'll be asked to move. As the others have mentioned, the train number is VERY important. If you board the wrong train as specified on your ticket / reservation, you'll likely be fined on the spot when the Conductor comes around to punch the ticket, and it's NOT cheap (about €40 PP)! The same situation can occur on a Regionale train (reservations not required) if you don't validate your ticket in the yellow machine prior to boarding OR even riding the Buses in Rome. The Bus tickets have to be validated before first use. Happy travels!

That was very good Michael. Thank you very much. Thank you all. Now I am a "virtual experienced train traveller". Hehehehehehe....

Hi Micheal I went back to Ron to Rome website. It still bothered me that some post'ers say that the info a traveller need in Roma termini to find the platform departure is: Time Final destination Category-Type of train (I have been refering as designation) AV; ES; IC; Reg; Ron to Rome website have a picture of the Overhead Departure Board. Nowhere in that board any reference of the train number. The lay out of the board is this: DateTime of dayDestination CatScheduled TimeProjected Time*Bin Projected time (OraEff) is when there is a delay. No info is no delay. Destination is final destination of the train run. My hang up all this time is where do I refer to the train
number? (except the yellow bulletin that Larry and others have mentioned). Please comment.....

The boards on the platform by the tracks are bigger and have the train numbers on them. When in doubt, find someone that looks like they know what they're doing and show them your ticket - we did this until we got the hang of it and found people very helpful.

Hi Nancyp I have never been to Italy or Europe. I just started out not knowing where and how do I find the platform I should go to board my train in Roma Termini. I am sure you are correct about the boards in the platform, but with due respect, I do not know how to get to the correct platform(Roma Termini). I now know what to do to get all the information I need by the yellow or white bulletin boards as mentioned by Larry (THANK YOU LARRY). It just bothers me that the good guys here say the important info is the train number, while in other posts, it is, as I do not see the train numbers in the Departure Boards. It is as other posts says, Time, Type of train, Final destination that a traveler need to get to the correct platform. Happy travels, my friends.

Domingo, I can certainly understand your frustration. On our first trip to Italy, we had a ticket to Assisi. Nobody told us that the destination on the train would say Foligno. We had never heard of Foligno and never associated it with being the train we wanted. We had some quick learning to do to find our train. I may have found an answer to your question. The Italians don't seem to be able to show you the full routing of their trains. However, the Germans seem to be able to do this. No guarantee on the accuracy but here goes. Go to www.bahn.de. Select USA for the language. Type in your departure and destination information. For me, I put in Rome-Termini and Civitavecchia. I started with the morning trains. Each time I saw an ES in the schedule (Eurostar Italia), I clicked on the little red square to the left to open up the run. Opening up the run shows the trains and train numbers. After a couple of tries, I successfully found the ES 9764 departing at 8:10. At this point, place your mouse on the train number and you will be able to click on the train run number. Click on ES 9764. The entire run for the train will display. Here's a LINK to see what I see. With this method, you can actually see the destination of the train. Again, no guarantees on the accuracy. Odd that the Italians can't do this with their own website. They used to do this but I don't see this feature anymore.

So according to that the final destination for the Rome Cittavecchia Genoa train is Milano Centrale. And I can tell you the final destination for the Rome to Venice Santa Lucia is Venice Santa Lucia ( do not get off earlier at Venice Mestre). But I would still confirm with the train number where possible. I have seen them on the big overhead board, the one that keeps changing as trains depart. Don't know why it would not be there.

Larry, that is a awesome website for train travelers in Europe! The much rumored German efficiency? Thank you Sasha...... I think you mentioned the whole solution to my hung up. There is one board that is updating constantly everytime a train leaves the Termini Station and the trains scheduled will have its train number!