I have booked the Bernina express on 26-12 which ends in Tirano around lunch time. I was hoping to get the train back to Milan the same day, but everything I look at online says there are no trains available for those dates. Hire car does also not appear to be an option. Is everything closed due to Christmas? Please help!
Posted by
Lake District, England
8134 posts
According to Deutsche Bahn there is engineering work between Tirano and Milan, with bus replacement between Thusis and Bellinzona. These are the regular service buses, not railway charters.
Departures are at 1300 and 1500 (last of the day)- the 1300 has a 56 minute transfer time at Thusis, the 1500 a 4 minute transfer.
The later, 1700, departure requires a 5 hour overnight wait at Chiasso for the local train to Milan.
Posted by
Green Bay
21218 posts
The trains from Tirano to Milano Centrale are regional trains. Often they do not show up on the schedule after December 9, because December 10 is the date schedules are all adjusted. For various reasons, they will not show up on the schedule until very close to December 10. This happens every year on the second Sunday in December and it drives tourists crazy. The Italians don't worry because they are used to it and know the trains will be there. It is the Italian way.
So just wait a month from now they will magically reappear on the schedule. The Deutsche Bahn journey planner will be making wacky routings until they are officially scheduled.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
Hi Sam, thanks for the info, that puts my mind at ease. Can you buy tickets at the station?
Is it known how long the track work is going for?
Posted by
Green Bay
21218 posts
There is no track work, the trains just are not "officially" scheduled yet. Here is what goes on as I understand it.
Italian regional trains are partially subsidized by the regional governments. This time of the year, the contract between the government and the train operator is negotiated as to how much that subsidy will be. Like all negotiations, they drag out until the deadline is near. The government wants to save money, and the train operator wants more money. Every year, it gets settled because the government wants the trains to run to serve the tax payers and the train operators want to stay in business.
So sometime after the first of December, the trains will magically appear on the schedule. I believe you can buy tickets at the station, at least out of a ticket machine. You can also buy them on-line once the schedule is released. But nowadays, people buy them through an app on their smartphones, either from Trenord, the actual train operator, of Trenitalia.
https://www.trenord.it/en/tickets/where-to-buy/app-trenord/
https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html