Looking forward to getting back to Italy next month - this time for two full months and just a year after our last visit. We loved the trains and never had any major issues. But a column in Wednesday's Financial Times caught my eye in which they wrote about "recent severe delays," rail industry "chaos" and 23 percent late rate for high-speed trains. Is that really the experience of current visitors? Just curious.
Here’s some of the updates on the first link which could be affecting your routes. I traveled in Italy the whole month of May. My morning check each day was the current strikes planned out for the next few weeks, so I could mitigate any issues.
https://help.raileurope.com/article/41616-italy-delays-disruptions
Upcoming strikes:
https://scioperi.mit.gov.it/mit2/public/scioperi
The delays recently on the Florence-Rome high speed railway last week and today on the Rome-Naples high speed railway were both due to wildfires on fields near the tracks.
It's hot and dry in Italy these days, and fires happen.
There are also infrastructural work projects scheduled to take place this month of August. There are construction projects that must take place during the months when it doesn't rain, and that is now..
we took a train from milan to naples last night and the train had to reroute due to fires and we ended up being over two hours late on our arrival. But that was due to the fires, not any other chaos. All of the other trains we've had this week have run right on time.
Oh boy. We have 3 legs planned as part of our April 2025 trip, to be booked in October when the dates open up. They are: Florence/Rome; Rome/Salerno; Salerno/Taormina, Sicily. The final leg is the one I've always been a little concerned about, even without disruptions. But I'm still going to book, and look at other alternatives should something go awry...a Plan B, C and D!