Help! Caught up in Trenitalia strike

[DMU180]

Hi all

Looking for some help/advice/reassurance as I booked tickets for a day trip from Venice to Pisa a while ago and I’ll discovered this evening that there is a Trenitalia strike tomorrow (13 July).

I can’t find any good information online, including Trenitalia’s English website on whether the below trains will run, wasn’t sure if anyone here had any experience or intel!

Due to travel on:
FR9405 Venezia San Lucia - Firenze Santa Maria Novella
RE18361 Firenze Santa Maria Novella - Pisa San Rossore

RE18403 Pisa San Rossore - Firenze Santa Maria Novella
FR9432 Firenze Santa Maria Novella - Venezia San Lucia

Any idea if there trains will run? Seems like they aren’t on Trenitalia’s guaranteed list of services but they do still seem to be selling tickets for the outbound journey. Return is showing as sold out, obviously don’t want to trek all the way to Pisa then find we can’t get back!

 

[30907]

You seem to be in luck - 9405 is just about the only morning train on the route, and the evening trains are all showing available, as are plenty of Pisa locals.

 

[DMU180]

You seem to be in luck - 9405 is just about the only morning train on the route, and the evening trains are all showing available, as are plenty of Pisa locals.

Oh that is fantastic, thank you very much for taking a look. Fingers crossed nothing changes overnight!

 

[Ringo2112]

Are most of these Italian trains running tomorrow? I was thinking of doing Venice to Milan and then up to Switzerland since I got the rug pulled on my Venice to Vienna Nightjet train. Looks like a lot of trains still running.

 

[boiledbeans2]

Are most of these Italian trains running tomorrow? I was thinking of doing Venice to Milan and then up to Switzerland since I got the rug pulled on my Venice to Vienna Nightjet train. Looks like a lot of trains still running.

In Italy, there are "guaranteed trains" which will run during strikes:

Treni garantiti in caso di sciopero - Trenitalia

www.trenitalia.com

On the page above, in the middle of the page are 2 PDF files for the long distance trains. At the bottom of the page, you can choose the region to view the PDFs for the local trains.

 

[Ringo2112]

I'm in Venice Mestre right now and I don't see too many high speed trains running. I walked down to station to look around and every train that is running on the board looked massively late. I'm not even bothering trying to get out today. I need a reservation fee for my Eurail pass and the line to speak with an agent was incredibly long. Anyone know how I make a reservation fee on line? I'm traveling on a First Class Eurail pass and just need to get to Milan tomorrow, thanks,

Anyone know if you can just purchase the reservation fee on the train with the conductor in Italy? I have a first class Eurail pass.

 

[ricohallo]

You can reserve most Italian high speed trains online using the ÖBB website: https://shop.oebbtickets.at/en/ticket?cref=oebb-header

Add the Interrail/Eurail Globalpass discount then search for one-way tickets and day tickets (this is important).

 

[dutchflyer]

My own experience during a regional strike-Lombardia was that those ´garanteed´ train did indeed run, but not at all to time. In general these are in the am+pm peaks-the normal times for workers to/fro work.

 

[D6130]

My own experience during a regional strike-Lombardia was that those ´garanteed´ train did indeed run, but not at all to time. In general these are in the am+pm peaks-the normal times for workers to/fro work.

In Tuscany - which includes Firenze and Pisa - the guaranteed trains tend to be mainly in the morning peak and the early afternoon...to suit school and college students rather than workers. I note that your selected trains between Firenze and Pisa in both directions are via the much slower - but more scenic - route via Pistoia and Lucca (sit on the right hand side on the outward journey for the best views of the mountains). However if one or both of these trains are cancelled due to the strike, you may have the option of using the faster and more direct route to/from Pisa Centrale via Empoli. I assume that you planned to use Pisa San Rossore - an interesting triangular station not unlike Shipley - because of its proximity to the cathedral, leaning tower, etc. Pisa Centrale is about a half hour walk across town to/from the cathedral but, if that's not a viable option for you, buses and taxis are available. I can't guarantee this but - in my experience - ticket inspections are ususally rare to non-existant on strike days so, if you have to return to Venice on a later train from Firenze - possibly changing at Bologna - it will probably be OK.

 

[Ian99]

I've not experienced an Italian strike day but I have been in a situation of being at a station where at short notice the ticket office was closed.

I went online at obb but it was too close to departure time for me to buy the reservation I needed for my Inter rail pass.

I therefore got on the train and sought out the guard to explain.

He just told me to sit down and that was it, I travelled to Bari without a reservation.

 

[D6130]

Hi all

Looking for some help/advice/reassurance as I booked tickets for a day trip from Venice to Pisa a while ago and I’ll discovered this evening that there is a Trenitalia strike tomorrow (13 July).

I can’t find any good information online, including Trenitalia’s English website on whether the below trains will run, wasn’t sure if anyone here had any experience or intel!

Due to travel on:
FR9405 Venezia San Lucia - Firenze Santa Maria Novella
RE18361 Firenze Santa Maria Novella - Pisa San Rossore

RE18403 Pisa San Rossore - Firenze Santa Maria Novella
FR9432 Firenze Santa Maria Novella - Venezia San Lucia

Any idea if there trains will run? Seems like they aren’t on Trenitalia’s guaranteed list of services but they do still seem to be selling tickets for the outbound journey. Return is showing as sold out, obviously don’t want to trek all the way to Pisa then find we can’t get back!

How did you get on?

 

[DMU180]

How did you get on?

All went pretty well in the end, the FR legs both ran as scheduled and we even received our complimentary welcome drink and snack in Business!

The regional legs to/from Pisa were both cancelled but we managed to catch alternative trains so ended up arriving about 20 minutes later than planned and left about an hour earlier.

I was surprised how well it was all handled and how many trains actually ran!

In Tuscany - which includes Firenze and Pisa - the guaranteed trains tend to be mainly in the morning peak and the early afternoon...to suit school and college students rather than workers. I note that your selected trains between Firenze and Pisa in both directions are via the much slower - but more scenic - route via Pistoia and Lucca (sit on the right hand side on the outward journey for the best views of the mountains). However if one or both of these trains are cancelled due to the strike, you may have the option of using the faster and more direct route to/from Pisa Centrale via Empoli. I assume that you planned to use Pisa San Rossore - an interesting triangular station not unlike Shipley - because of its proximity to the cathedral, leaning tower, etc. Pisa Centrale is about a half hour walk across town to/from the cathedral but, if that's not a viable option for you, buses and taxis are available. I can't guarantee this but - in my experience - ticket inspections are ususally rare to non-existant on strike days so, if you have to return to Venice on a later train from Firenze - possibly changing at Bologna - it will probably be OK.

Apologies, I missed your earlier message!

Yes that is exactly what we had planned, San Rossore seemed closer to the main landmarks so we had planned to travel on the direct services there but in the end we travelled to/from Pisa Centrale as those seemed more reliable. Managed to seek out the Train Manager on both and got their permission to use our tickets and both were very friendly and happy to allow.

Bit of a shame we didn’t get the planned services though from your post, would have been nice to have a more scenic route but main thing was getting there and back I suppose.

 

[D6130]

Yes that is exactly what we had planned, San Rossore seemed closer to the main landmarks so we had planned to travel on the direct services there but in the end we travelled to/from Pisa Centrale as those seemed more reliable. Managed to seek out the Train Manager on both and got their permission to use our tickets and both were very friendly and happy to allow.

Bit of a shame we didn’t get the planned services though from your post, would have been nice to have a more scenic route but main thing was getting there and back I suppose.

That's good to hear. Things - both rail- and non-rail related in Italy are never quite as black-and-white as they seem and even in the case of a 'national' strike there is usually a workaround if you persevere!