Hi,
We have booked Frecciarossa for travelling from Roma Termini to Napoli Centrale, Napoli Centrale to Firenze SM Novella, Firenze SM Novella to Venezia S. Lucia, Venezia S.Lucia to Roma Termini.
Can anyone tell me how long will the train be stopping at each of these stations? As I understand they are all major stations, so will the train be stopping there for a couple of minutes or do we need to rush to get on the train as soon as it arrives at the station?
TIA
They'll stop for as long as it takes for passengers to get off then new passengers to board. You need to be on the platform ready to board before the train's scheduled departure time. And you should expect to board as soon as the arriving passengers have disembarked. Your reserved seats will be in a certain car, indicated on your ticket. Find the right car as soon as you can so you can get on that car without having to walk up and down the train through different cars to find where you belong. There may be indicator boards on the platform showing where which cars will be on the arriving train, so you don't have to hunt for the right car as soon as the train has stopped.
We just returned from a a similar trip.
You can google the train number to find out when it
arrives, when it departs, and what track ("Bin") it will be on.
The site (in this case "http://www.e656.net/orario/treno/9552.html")
will also tell you about delays. I use the chrome browser on my cell phone
to see the schedule of the train I was currently on, and the one
I was connecting with. We normally had no trouble getting on/off, but
you don't have a ton of time (3-10 minutes here it looks like). Good luck!
Station Arrival Departure Bin.
CENTRAL NAPLES 17:00:00 17
ROME TERMINI 18:10:00 18:20:00 10
ROMA TIBURTINA 18:27:00 18:29:00 12
FLORENCE SANTA MARIA NOVELLA 19:51:00 20:00:00 9
BOLOGNA CENTRALE SOTTERRANEA AV 20:35:00 20:38:00
MILAN CENTRAL 21:40:00 9
The conductor won't close the doors until he sees that everyone has boarded the train, so no need to rush. That said, as soon as the track number is posted, you should go to the platform and stand near the overhead sign showing your coach number. Trains starting their trips, for example at Venezia Santa Lucia, will open the doors for boarding about 10-15 minutes before the scheduled departure time. Trains making an interim stop, for example at Firenze SMN, wait about 5-10 minutes for passengers to board. When getting off a train at an interim stop, do what others will do - gather your belongings and head towards the door as the train is approaching the station. To determine the exact amount of time your trains are scheduled to stop, do a dummy search for your train on Trenitalia website and then click on the information icon next to the train number.
You need to rush to find your BIN and your Coach number then wait, wait with everyone else who has stormed towards that same train and are lining up at the same coach. The wait from announcing the BIN to the actual train showing up is about 15 min. If your on coach 12, that can take some time to walk down to as the trains are huge. Then the one door opens and people start getting on, and their bags on, and their strollers and small children...that takes time. I have never seen a train wait for anyone, not that there was a need as most people do hustle on board. It's nice to get on, get your bags situated and get settled in before the train takes off. Also on longer journeys you may want to grab some sandwiches, water and other treats to eat on your journey.
Just in case... "bin." is short for Binario and it's always translated as "platform" on bigger, bilingual monitors and boards. The bigger ones are all bilingual with the English translation written using a thinner font.
You'll read "Bin." only on smaller monitors and boards, but you'll never hear it.
Rushing around train stations would be like holding a sign saying "American Tourist". A sign that will draw unwanted attention, especially in Naples Central station.
You can walk from the first to the last track in 20 minutes at Termini, the biggest italian station; in all the stations you listed, if you don't know the intended track of your next train, walk past the tickets checkers and just wait in front of a "Departures" monitor near track #10 or #12.
And see I was thinking the guys on the floor at Napoli Centrale playing Poker with no shirts on screamed "Tourist". ( They were told to get off the floor, put that stuff away and put on their shirts...I don't understand Italian but the look of disgust told me everything I needed to know).
You've been told how to get on, but more important is how to get off. A few minutes before your train is due to arrive, gather your belongings and make your way toward the exit; at these major stations, you'll see lots of others doing the same. Be ready to get off as soon as the train stops. If you wait, you'll be "swimming upstream" as others will have started to board - no fun with luggage.
It is rare for a train to spend more than a few minutes at a station. Find your carriage by the number printed on the door, so you don't have to move your luggage through more than one carriage to find your seat, since the aisle will be blocked by luggage belonging to tourists who do not want to let it out of their sight.
You might also want to remember that because they are special services (and they are, quite fast and reliable), your ticket is only good on the departure named on the ticket. You can't take an earlier train if you happen to arrive early, and you'll have to buy an expensive last-minute ticket if you come late. Or you could take slower trains that might cost less.
You need to sit in your assigned seat, if it is marked on the ticket.
Have you read our host's general train advice, which is free? Top left menu in Desktop site version. "Travel Tips". More details in his guidebooks, like "Rick Steves Italy". No, I don't work for him!
Note that if you are leaving from the origination stop the train may be sitting there empty waiting for a few minutes before the scheduled time, which makes it easier to board leisurely. But if you are boarding at an intermediate stop, you do need to hustle to get on after the departing passengers get off. (If necessary, get on a different car and haul your bag(s) to the correct car while the train is moving -- it sure beats watching your train pull out while you are still on the platform. Nearly got left behind in a little town in Austria -- conductor was waving at me and shouting in German something that was probably "get on here!")
In Firenze SMN trains have to reverse direction - the engineer has to be changed or has to walk the whole train - so they are usually scheduled to stop 9 minutes. In Roma Termini, a similar case, the stop would be 10 minutes. The scheduled stop in Bologna, when the train does not reverse, is 3 minutes. In Roma Tiburtina, where again there is no change of direction, is 2 minutes.
10 min between arrival time and departure time at all the terminus station you mentioned.
Very good advice from Laura B (a few posts earlier). The train will not necessarily wait for everyone to get on, so if you are not near your compartment when the train arrives, get on any compartment & find your compartment after you get on. Don't make the same mistake I did when I continued walking along the platform looking for my compartment & the train doors all slammed shut. Somehow a passenger inside managed to get the door open, perhaps by pressing the emergency button, allowing me to board.
However, since you are boarding at major cities, the train will probably arrive at least 10 minutes before departure time. So if you are on the platform beforehand & waiting, you should have enough time to find your compartment before boarding (especially if there are signs indicating where each compartment stops).
In most stations there are electronic boards showing were each numbered car is going to stop. A problem is that they usually light up the signs a bit late, only two or three minutes before train arrives. You begin to walk to your location as soon as they light up and you generally are there, or close enough, by the time doors open.
Breaking the code is not difficult: an ordinary Frecciarossa train has 11 cars, numbered 1 to 11. So car 6 is always at the center of the train. The problem is that you never know till the train arrives if the head car is car 1 or car 11 (the train may switch direction one or two times during its run). But car 5 and car 7 are always near the center, if you are into the low or the high numbers be ready to walk briskly in the correct direction as soon as you know.
Never push an emergency button if a passenger stayed outside, a left passenger is NOT an emergency and you could get fined.
I'm sure the other passenger did not push the emergency button, otherwise the train would have stopped, the conductor would have to get of2f, check what happened, delay the train etc.
I think the only exception is if a child remained by themself.
