High-speed train, chaos on the Rome-Naples line: delays of up to 100 minutes

The Italian high-speed railway is in the midst of a crisis. Repeated failures along the network are knocking out Trenitalia's Frecce (and also Italo trains, due to the feared domino effect), exasperating thousands of travellers. Yesterday saw yet another episode in a black summer, this time on the Av route between Rome and Naples. Since 3.45 p.m., circulation has been severely slowed down due to a technical problem between Labico and Anagni, with chaos and inconvenience particularly in the direction of Naples. Delays exceed 50 minutes, warns Trenitalia through its website, which invites passengers to consult timetables on official channels. In the course of the afternoon, delays increased to 100 minutes. In trouble at Roma Termini station, where even Italo trains accumulated delays. Until late in the evening, Rfi technicians were working to restore full functionality of the infrastructure, with high-speed trains diverted to conventional lines via Formia and via Cassino, resulting in a general lengthening of journey times by up to 70 minutes.

A continuous odyssey for those who travel by train, and so Pier Luigi Bersani, former Minister of Transport and former secretary of the Democratic Party, intervened on the case, posting on social media a photograph of a board at Termini station showing trains delayed for hours or cancelled. 'In the total unawareness of the Minister of Transport,' Bersani attacks, calling into question the deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini, 'the "Olympics of the traveller" are taking place in Italy. We are waiting for him for the award ceremonies,' he jokes.

A few days ago, the consumer association Codacons drew an initial balance of this 'black July' with regard to rail traffic. Codacons writes: 'Analysing the information published on Rfi's website on the real-time situation of traffic on Italian tracks, it emerges that in just 10 days, in the period between 16 and 25 July, there have been as many as 74 cases of traffic delays or suspensions not caused by bad weather, fires, falling trees, or other causes of force majeure. The disruptions are largely related to technical problems with the trains or the power line, but there are also cases oftheft of copper or the presence of unauthorised persons on the tracks. The route most affected by slowdowns - Codacons continues - is the Rome-Florence high-speed line, which in the period under consideration counts no less than 11 episodes of problems with trains or the network, an average of just over one a day. Disruptions that cause cascading delays on the entire network and cause enormous inconvenience to citizens in a period, that of summer departures, when transport services should guarantee maximum punctuality and efficiency,' the note reads.