There will be a national train strike when we arrive in Rome and need to get to Florence. We have seats on a Italo train that is guaranteed to run from Rome to Florence but also are booked a flight on ITA Airways. I prefer the train but am thinking there could be delays and issues due to the strike. Does anyone have thoughts about the best option?
Posted by
Chicago
662 posts
Well, there is no guarantee on this, but I think that in general, effects of train
strikes are known in advance. Ahead of time, I would check the Italo site
to see what impacts they have documented. Most likely they will offer a
refund, or allow you to use your ticket on another train.
Note that in many European countries, there are tiers of rail service (local,
regional, long-distance). They may be run by different companies, and as
such, not all be affected by a specific union going on strike in the same way.
If you can get a refund, I'd check into buses as well. Florence is not that far
from Rome and I'd do a bus over a connecting flight.
Posted by
San Diego, California, USA
1147 posts
The trains from the airports are always supposed to run during the strikes so assuming you're landing you shouldn't be stuck at the airport. I wouldn't count on schedules and speeds always being the same as a normal time but they should be running.
Italo trains are private and usually less affected by strikes but if it a a big one they may participate. When I was there in October last year there was a big nationwide strike the day we were supposed to go from Verona to Venice and I booked the last guaranteed train out of Verona and super cheap backup tickets on Italo. The train was a little late (15 minutes or so) and took a while to get going and didn't seem to get up to full speed but we made it. (The vaporetti were on strike as well but that's a separate discussion.) I don't know if the Italo train went or not because my original train worked.
There is a list of the big city to city trains guaranteed to run - generally in the morning and then in the evening - for Trenitalia and I would assume Italo has the same list but I'm not sure where. There are also strike websites that show who is participating in what area but it's a little cryptic if you don't know what union does what since it is clearly aimed at Italians.
This is supposed to be list of all scheduled strikes in Italy but it is currently timing out for me:
https://www.commissionegaranziasciopero.it/calendario-scioperi
Here's a more specific version: https://scioperi.mit.gov.it/mit2/public/scioperi
This is the list of guaranteed trains Trenitalia through Jun of 2024.
https://www.trenitalia.com/content/dam/tcom/allegati/trenitalia_2014/informazioni/TABELLA_A_Treni_garantiti_DPLH.pdf
Good luck,
=Tod
Posted by
OP
6 posts
Thank you!