Help please with timetable releases for local trains

Sorry, I did not read your whole post, but for a variety of reasons, Italian regional train schedules don't get released until just before they are released (June 8). That is the bad news. The good news is that they hardly ever change, or just very slightly. If you need to be in Milan at a certain time, just look at the schedules for the same day of the week in the next 7 days.

So they are only showing EC trains that pass through Como S. Giovanni for that time period because they are on the schedule. Regional trains are not up yet and probably won't be for another 3 weeks. Regional trains are always the same price and have no reserved seats. You can't get denied boarding because the train is crowded, anymore that you would be denied boarding on an NYC subway train. Buying a ticket now gives you no more right to a seat from someone who buys a ticket with their smart phone 60 seconds before boarding.

Reading your post further, it is a minor detail about having train tickets. Regional tickets are normally bought out of ticket machines on the day of travel and validated just before boarding the train. Do you need info on every single movement in Italy? I doubt it. Buying regional tickets on-line in advance locks you in to the train you pick and any train on that route for the next 4 hours. Tickets bought on site can be used on any train on that route that day, and become active when they are validated in the platform stamping machine.

So for your visa application, I would think you just show you have hotel reservations on what days. Again, sorry I don't know more, but as a US resident I don't need a visa except for stays over 90 days. But that level of detail sounds like overkill to me.

another edit:

Similarly, for trains Venice to Milan right now it shows trains like every 15 minutes or so but in August when I want to go, it only shows every 40 minutes? And same for trains Milan to Como now and then - every 2 hours (then) compared to every 15 minutes or so (now)

The trains showing up every 15 minutes are for regional connections and IC trains. These are slow trains and you do not want these to travel between Milan and Venice. You want the fast Freccia trains that are showing up now. Buy those ones, they will get you there quickly with comfortable reserved seats.

Thanks a lot!

That's a relief that more times will be added. Fortunately, I can hold out another 3 weeks as the Visa appointment is just after then.

What is an EC train? That is a different train service to regional?

Is Venice to Milan classified as being regional as well? As it only shows a few select times.

I guess the train from Rome to Florence to Venice is different? Because right now the times shown for August are the same as next week as in every 5 minutes or so.. So I think it is safe I can book those now?

Cheers

See my edits. Yes, there are different types of trains in Italy. Freccia fast trains between major cities, IC trains that are slower but still require seat reservations (included in the ticket price). EC trains are mainline trains that go to other countries. Example, EC train going north from Milan on going to Switzerland, but can still be used to get around Italy. Regional trains are for nearby towns and cities and are partly subsidized by the regional governments, thus the delays in getting the schedules out. It is all about the negotiations between the railways and the government.

Again, I do not believe you have to show that you already have train tickets for your trip to get a visa, just where you will be in Italy.

Further Edit. Where is the tour in Milan? There are frequent trains to Milano Cadorna station from the Como Lake front area. Cadorna is close to the Milan Cathedral and "Last Supper" church. The other station in Como is San Giovanni station, on the side of a hill outside the center of town. That is where EC trains stop and other regional trains going to Milano Centrale station. The station by the lake front is Como Nord Lago. If you want that station, use that on the trenitalia trip planner. https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html
Again, check dates between now and June 8 to see the schedule.

Thanks a lot!

Yes to me, I thought showing all the internal transportation being booked is over kill as well but it states this on the Schengen visa website and I re-confirmed this over the phone with the Italian consulate.

The trains showing up every 15 minutes are for regional connections and IC trains. These are slow trains and you do not want these >to travel between Milan and Venice. You want the fast Freccia trains that are showing up now.

That does make sense to me however for Venice to Milan now it shows additional options for a train service called Italo which is just as fast as the Freccia train and leaves 30 minutes before the Freccia but the Freccia train connects via Bologna so makes the journey 2 hr 54 minutes compared to 2hr 25 minutes. I would prefer this service in August because then it is direct and faster.. Also train timetables now have other services leaving more frequently from Venice as regional trains and connect with cities like Padua and Verona, connecting then with the Freccia and make the journey only like 7 minutes longer than the Freccia direct..

Anyhoo if I can hold out I would like to get the Italo direct service when it becomes available for booking would that be in about 3 weeks or so?

Further Edit. Where is the tour in Milan? There are frequent trains to Milano Cadorna station from the Como Lake front area. >Cadorna is close to the Milan Cathedral and "Last Supper" church. The other station in Como is San Giovanni station, on the side >of a hill outside the center of town. That is where EC trains stop and other regional trains going to Milano Centrale station. The >station by the lake front is Como Nord Lago.

Yeah its a a last supper tour but it is a walking tour which starts from Pizza Duomo which when looking seems to be kind of halfway between Milan Central and Milan Cadorna?

I purposely booked the hotel in Como near Como San Giovanni for a quick trip to the train station back to Milan probably I still go to the tour via Central

Cheers

When you make a search on trenitalia.com, the type of train is showed in the fourth column.
An EC is a not-so-fast long distance train that ends its run in a different country, EuroCity
Italo is a different competing company that runs only high speed trains on major routes, stop using resellers and stick with the official sites: trenitalia.com and www.italotreno.it/en To make you buy tickets asap, loco2 is showing you absurd routes: not direct train goes from Venice to Milan via Bologna.

Wait for june 8 or get now the Venezia-Milan leg on trenitalia.com. There aren't better options.

No cop will be at the station asking why are you are taking train # XYZ at 11 am and not train # YZX at 10:55 as you declared at the Embassy.

Yes, Italo service is very good, really the same times as Freccia trains operated by trenitalia. It only operates high speed trains Torino to Venezia, Venezia to Bologna, Milano to Salerno. Some times it can be less expensive as well. Right now, they are booking out to August 2 and prices are 9.90 EUR from Venice to Milan.

Curious, is this the visa application you are using?
https://www.esteri.it/mae/resource/doc/2016/01/annex_9__application_form__gennaio_2016_finale.pdf

I notice that in line 33, it asks about " Cost of travelling and living during the applicant's stay is covered"
Then a list of boxes, for cash, travelers check (does anybody actually use them anymore?), credit card, pre-paid accommodation, pre-paid transport, other.

I guess you are checking the pre-paid transport box. But some transport is very minor. For instance, the cost of a train ticket from Como Nord Lago to Milano Nord Cadorna is 4.80 EUR. The cost of a single vaporetto ride in Venice is 7.50 EUR. I hope you don't have put that on the application.

To make you buy tickets asap, loco2 is showing you absurd routes: not direct train goes from Venice to Milan via Bologna.

Trenitalia is showing me the exact same service - Venice to Milan via Bologna.. and it is more expensive than loco2

I got the info to use loco2 from seat61 website and other places seem to recommend it highly as well.. should I not be using it? Ta

Curious, is this the visa application you are using?
https://www.esteri.it/mae/resource/doc/2016/01/annex_9__application_form__gennaio_2016_finale.pdf

Yes that is the form I am using. I cannot seem to find the place where I got the information from about needing train tickets etc I will try to find it

Right now, they are booking out to August 2

I see that thanks and very cheap. Would you have any idea when dates later in August would come up? I will keep checking. Ta

Don't go via Bologna, it is out of the way. There is direct service from Venice to Milan by both Trenitalia and Italotreno in 2 1/4 hours.

I think you should rely on the sites of the train operators.
https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html
https://www.italotreno.it/en
You can use loco2 to buy tickets if it is easier for you, but relay on the schedules put out by the people who actually run the trains.

Yes thanks it just seems I need to wait until Italo release their schedule for the dates I need since for the time I want to leave Venice only has the freccia service currently via Bologna

No, Freccia direct service is currently on sale for Venice to Milan through the end of August, but not at the super low price of 9.90 EUR. Mostly in the 27.90 EUR range.

There are no direct trains from Venice to Milan via Bologna, Trenitalia is correctly showing a transfer in Bologna from Frecciarossa 9413 to Frecciarossa 9616.

Trenitalia shows the prices per Group, not per person. Since Loco2 buys and re-sells Trenitalia's tickets I doubt they can offer better prices. Unless you are a Group of 4+ passengers, in this case their algorithm combines different tiers of fares better than Trenitalia's .

Sam, it's been a while since I last saw a 9.9 fare so I've made a search from Venice to Milan putting October 1 as day of travel. The cheapest tickets cost 27.9 Euro.

That 9.90 fare was on Italotreno for August 2, last day that Italo is selling tickets for the Venice-Milan route.