Italian railways have a long and honourable history of helping out with national disasters in many different ways. Following the Umbria (1997) and L'Aquila (2009) earthquakes, large numbers of surplus sleeping cars were quickly drafted-in from all over Italy to Foligno and L'Aquila respectively, to act as emergency temporary accommodation for survivors whose homes had been destroyed or made uninhabitable.
They also have special pilgrimage trains, consisting mainly of couchette carriages, but including fully-equipped ambulance cars in which seriously ill patients can be cared for on the long journey to and from Lourdes in South-West France from a myriad of different starting points in Italy - mainly in the South, where religious fervour is more prevelant nowadays.
