rail strike june 25th

Do you remember the answer I gave you on one of your earlier threads? Here it is (slightly reworded):

According to the Trenitalia site (Italian only), there is one train for Venezia-Firenze that is guaranteed to run during a strike. It is ES 9425 and it leaves Venezia Santa Lucia at 18:27 and arrives at Firenze S.M.N. at 20:30.

While this will be a national strike, it looks like it will not affect long distance trains so you should be able to buy a ticket for any direct Venezia-Firenze train on 25 June. However, you could find out for sure as soon as you arrive in Italy. Then, if necessary, buy a ticket for ES 9425 immediately.

I remember, I just can't find that information myself. I want to see it with my own two eyes, because I have received lots of conflicting information as you can tell by my post. Can you show me how you know that is the train that is guaranteed or send me the link? Sorry to be such a pain.

Will this strike the circumvesuviana train as well?

Jill,

You're not being a pain! If I were in your position, I'd want to be absolutely certain myself. See this page.

To confirm what I've found, I suggest that you talk to the experts at Budget Europe Travel Service. Their advice is friendly and free.

If I'm right that long distance service will not be affected, buy your ticket for the train of your choice when you get to Italy. If there's any chance that long distance service will be affected, you could buy your ticket for ES 9425 today from Rail Europe. Then you would run no risk of that train being sold out before you get to Italy.

Ken,

I don't know if the Circumvesuviana will be affected. I suggest that you ask the people at BETS.

Tim,

Thank you so much for your help! The only thing I want to check on is that the train says it leaves venice and arrives in Rome. How do I know that it is stopping in Florence on its way?

I think i will def be buying a ticket on that train just to be on the safe side asap, so I will not have to worry or stress over it once we are there on our honeymoon.

Thanks again!

ES 9425 stops in Firenze on its way to Roma. See either the Trenitalia timetables or the German Rail timetables.

Happy honeymoon!

Italy handles strikes and the potential of strikes differently than anywhere else.

Both Italy and France normally publish strike timetables noting which trains certainly will run. They tend to be generally pessimistic as in both countries I have generally seen more trains run; that being said I well remember spending over 7 hours on a train in Bologna waiting for it to continue its journey.

The thing about the Italian strikes is you never know if they are going to happen or not. We were in Venice last week and expected a Vaporetto, bus, and national train strike. Two days before the strike we were told by FS (Italian trains) that the train strike was off but "maybe next week". ACTV (Venice boats and buses) told us that their strike and all the buses was definitely on, but they only posted single copies of the strike guaranteed services.

Next morning, same story; at about 2 pm the word started to go around that it was off, and at about 3 o'clock every ACTV worker agreed it was off, and the next day it was as if there had never been any idea of a strike.

Last winter in Nice the only thing the PACA (Provence and Cote D'Azur trains) strike meant was an extended lunch hour and the last train was at about 10:00pm.

My advise, plan, check, check again, be sensible, but don't panic. A good plan, patience, and an attitude than includes embracing people tightly packed will leave you successful.

And you may luck out.

Good luck.

Wow, I'm glad I stumbled across this post- I'll be traveling from Venice-Florence on 6/22, then taking a regional train from Florence-Cortona on 6/24, then from Cortona to Rome on 6/26...

Does anyone know what the effects will be on the regional trains and what other options I'd have to get to some of our destinations?

The unions have announced a series of strikes against all transport modes, from 7 June thru 25 June, calling it a "hot June" (giugno caldo):

"Scioperi, giugno caldo: stop aerei, treni, bus e navi

"Si annuncia un giugno 'caldò nei trasporti. Dal 7 fino al 25 del mese sono diverse le proteste e gli scioperi indetti nel settore aereo, per bus, treni e navi. Per restare solo al 'Prospetto dei principali scioperi nazionali e interregionalì aggiornato dal ministero dei Trasporti, si inizia il 7 giugno con il settore aereo: sono 4 le ore di sciopero indetto da Sdl, dalle 12 alle 16, del personale addetto ai servizi di assistenza a terra dei dipendenti delle società associate ad Assohandlers, l'associazione delle società dei servizi aeroportuali nazionali.

"Il giorno successivo, ad incrociare le braccia per 24 ore (dalle 16 dell'8 giugno alle 16 del 9) saranno tutti i lavoratori del gruppo Tirrenia: la protesta è stata proclamata da Filt-Cgil, Fit-Cisl e Uiltrasporti a sostegno del delicato passaggio verso la privatizzazione della compagnia. L'11 giugno tocca invece al trasporto pubblico locale: Lo sciopero di 24 ore è stato proclamato dai lavoratori aderenti a Sdl, Cobas, Rdb e Slai-Cobas. Il 18 giugno la protesta colpirà di nuovo il settore aereo. Tre gli scioperi indetti da diverse sigle: è previsto lo sciopero di 24 ore del personale aeroportuale di Sea e Sea Handling di Linate e Malpensa; i dipendenti dell'Enav aderenti ai Cobas incroceranno le braccia per quattro ore, dalle 12 alle 16; mentre i piloti e assistenti di volo di Alitalia Cai-AirOne aderenti a Filt-Cgil, Ipa, Avia e Anpac saranno in sciopero per 24 ore."

The next paragraph addresses the 25 June 25 train strike but it won't fit. You can find it at

From www.unita.it/news

and I'll post it in a second post.

Here is the last paragraph, with the train strike:

"Il 24 giugno è la volta del personale del trasporto ed appalti di Fs con un a modalità di 24 ore, dalle 21 del 24 giugno alle ore 21 del 25 giugno. E il giorno successivo, il 25 giugno, si annuncia una giornata nera: è stato infatti confermato lo sciopero di 24 ore nel trasporto pubblico locale e ferroviario indetto unitariamente da Filt-Cgil, Fit-Cisl, Uiltrasporti, Ugltrasporti, Orsa Trasporti, Faisa e Fast dopo l'ordinanza della presidenza del Consiglio di rinviare lo sciopero proclamato per ieri 28 maggio."

www.unita.it

But read and take to heart Nigel's comments above about the realities of strikes---many that are announced do not materialize.

Chris,

The train strike is scheduled for 24 hours: 21:00 on 24 June to 21:00 on 25 June. So long as you get on a train to Cortona that leaves Florence before 21:00 on 24 June you'll be fine. Trains that are enroute when the strike is scheduled to begin are allowed to finish their run.

I just came across this post as well, and now I am a little worried! My husband and I are planning to go from Cortona to Napoli on June 25th. Will any trains be running that route if the strike does take place? I guess I need to make some back up plans for the 24th!

Here's my experience with an Italian rail strike: woke up in Florence with the intention of leaving for the Cinque Terre via train around noon. Went to check out of the hotel & the owner mentioned the strike when he learned of our travel plans. Strike? Uh-oh. He immediately got on the internet & confirmed our train was not running. Then he called some rail office to re-confirm the internet news & was told the same thing. Double uh-oh.

So we did the next best thing: panic. We were on a schedule, dammit! When that didn't work we asked the hotel owner if he could call some car rental companies. There was nothing available. Not even an early model Yugo missing the muffler. We then asked him if he knew anyone interested in taking a drive to the CT that day. He said he didn't, but really I think he did the prudent thing and didn't sell out any of his friends.

Dejected, we headed to the train station anyway, as that is what he had advised us to do. He explained (& this is the part I'm solely going on his word of mouth) that it is against the law for ALL trains to cease running in Italy on strike day, as the law states reasonable transportation must be available to citizens to get to work (or something like that). Usually that means (limited) early morning & late afternoon trains would run, during what would be normal commute times. Again, this is info passed along from an Italian hotel owner.

As luck would have it, we arrived at the train station to find the train we needed - and it was leaving within the 1/2 hour. For some reason, its existance was not disseminated on the internet, but it was there and we rode it happily.

Another something we learned: in Florence, the rail company had offices in the station. We stumbled upon it & the woman was fully capable of selling us tickets. So if you can, find the office and completely bypass what will for sure be a crazy ticket line.

So if all else fails, head to the station & hope for the best!

Rachel,

ES 9425 is guaranteed to run. (See my post above on this thread.) On the strike page it's listed as Venice-Rome, but it stops in Florence. Leave Florence at 20:40 and arrive in Rome at 22:13.

Great information from everyone! Are there alternate modes of transportation if there are no trains available or if we are not able to get on those that are? Also, if you purchase a ticket ahead of time, and that train does not run, how do you go about transferring to another? We are traveling from Florence to Rome on June 25th. I wish we had some flexibility, but our hotel arrangements are already made.

Also, I've looked at Trenitalia's website, and I don't see any of the Florence - Rome trains for the 25th on the list of trains definitely running during the strike. Maybe I'm just not reading it correctly???