Train Travel

Edith, To begin with, where are you looking for information? I've also found it a bit challenging to find details on the trip from Tirano using the "usual sources" (Bahn, Trenitalia). The Trenitalia website is currently undergoing a major overhaul, so I suspect that's one reason why some schedules aren't shown. I was able to find information on travel from Tirano to Milano Centrale using the SBB website. The trip is 2H:30M, with departures about every two hours. It was easy to find information on travel from Milano Centrale to Roma Termini. Trips are as short as 2H:59M via FrecciaRossa trains (reservations compulsory), with numerous departures throughout the day. Happy travels!

Edith another question is when will you be traveling? The timetables undergo revisions in June and nothing will be posted past then until the is put in. also... I think that the train from Tirano may be a Regionale train. If so, there won't be anything in beyond a week ahead. Use the same day of the week but much sooner for planning porpoises. The Bahn is best for overall planning, the SBB is best for Swiss, Trenitalia is best for buying Italian tickets... as Guru Ken has said, happy travels...

It took me no more than 30 seconds to type in Tirano to Rome, a date in the near future, and a time in the morning on the Bahn website. It gave me three connections, all with one segment by bus. Most were very long and round-about. There was one 8h20min connection leaving Tirano by bus (to Lugano) at 14:25. Most probably you are having trouble because there is very scant train service to Tirano (Some hours only one train, to Switzerland. Some hours, nothing.). There is probably more service by bus, but that would be harder to find.

Tirano is the starting and ending point for the Bernina Express. To get into the south and western part of Italy, it's usually the bus to Lugano, Switzerland where you change to a train to Milan. If you can get the right train run, you can get one with no train changes. It's only a 90-minute ride but some runs require another transportation change along the way. At Milan, you get onto a nice high-speed for the ride to Rome. Trenitalia is really having troubles in showing some international connections. It's blank for me for this overall run.

For reasons unknown, the German Rail site doesn't show the direct trains between Tirano and Milano. As Ken indicated, the Swiss Rail site does.

Tim and Ken are correct. I thought there was a train from Tirano to Milano Centrale but I couldn't find it on Trenitalia. It is on the Swiss railsite www.rail.ch. You can even buy a ticket online there for 123CHF. According to the Swiss website, you can pick up the ticket at any staffed station in Switzerland. Interestingly, Tirano is shown on their list of staffed stations but it's actually in Italy. To save a whole lot of money, buy your ticket on Trenitalia for the journey from Milano Centrale to Rome. Regular fares are 91E but you can get fares as low as 9E if you book within 90 days. Once the 9E fares are gone, they go up to the next level (19E, 29E, 39E). I've looked randomly through early June and the 9E fares are all gone. The mini-fare ticket locks you into a specific train and departure date and time. For the journey from Tirano to Milan Centrale, these are all Regionale trains. No reservations permitted. You can buy the tickets in Tirano and just get on the next train. Don't worry about full trains. Hard to do on the Regionales as you can stand if there are no seats. It's a 2.5hr. journey with multiple stops so if you are standing, seats will open up. Fare is about 15E.

The Bahn website does show a train leaving Tirano for Chur. That's probably the Bernina Express. But it takes over 4 hours to Chur and you are then even farther from Milan.

Using the Trenitalia "advanced" search functions I picked a random day in May and, starting at 07:00, I discovered that trains leave Tirano to Milano Centrale every 2 hours. Here's a breakdown: Tirano 07:10 - Milano Centrale 09:40 ... Regionale #2561 Tirano 09:10 - Milano Centrale 11:40 ... Regionale #2565 Tirano 11:10 - Milano Centrale 13:40 ... Regionale #2567 Tirano 13:10 - Milano Centrale 15:40 ... Regionale #2569 Tirano 15:10 - Milano Centrale 17:40 ... Regionale #2571 Tirano 17:10 - Milano Centrale 19:40 ... Regionale #2577 Tirano 19:10 - Milano Centrale 21:40 ... Regionale #2581
Tirano 20:00 - Milano Centrale 23:35 ... Regionale #2585 and Regionale #2557 (Connection in Sondrio) Currently these routes cost 16,15€ for 1st class and 10,75€ for 2nd class purchased through Trenitalia. These regional trains will make stops at Tresenda-Aprica-Teglio, Sondrio, Morbegno, Colico, Bellano-Tartavalle Terme, Varenna-Esino, Lecco, and Monza stations on their way to Milano Centrale. Once you have these times, you can work around the Milano Centrale to Roma Termini MINI fare route! These routes can be found on the Trenitalia site, but it's not as straightforward as it should be. There's no reason to purchase Regionale tickets online as they are then limited to a 4-hour window, starting with your train's departure time. That's because these online Regionale tickets are sold to you "pre-validated."

Better to buy Regionale tickets whenever you can (rather than online) - even on the day of travel as they never sell out. That's because those Regionale tickets bought in a station, at a counter or kiosk, are good for 2 months. That gives you far more flexibility than the online Regionale tickets. And remember, Regionale tickets not bought online MUST be validated before hopping on the train.

Thank you so much everybody for your replies and help, can work something out from them I hope
Great sight for info.