Buying Train Tickets on line in advance of Trip to Italy
Jul 23rd, 2014, 03:20 PM
#62
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There is another reason standing on the platform itself can be not 'dumb' but wise:
I've seen more times than platform changes trains being stacked on the same platform - this seems common in say Milano Centrale, where a train may find its normal platform occupied by perhaps a late-running train and track changes are not possible because every track is used - so the trains stack up.
On several occasions I was a little slow on the uptake and waited for my train by the first train nearest the entrance to the platform, which was not going where I expected it to - only to find that my real train was further up the platform - if I had been waiting by the front of the platform as FoodSnob suggests (and what is good for him or her is what works best for him or her) I may have missed the real train and the sign over the entrance to the track suddenly changes after my train has departed.
this happens a lot in the Netherlands as well and also in Germany as I recall.
I've seen more times than platform changes trains being stacked on the same platform - this seems common in say Milano Centrale, where a train may find its normal platform occupied by perhaps a late-running train and track changes are not possible because every track is used - so the trains stack up.
On several occasions I was a little slow on the uptake and waited for my train by the first train nearest the entrance to the platform, which was not going where I expected it to - only to find that my real train was further up the platform - if I had been waiting by the front of the platform as FoodSnob suggests (and what is good for him or her is what works best for him or her) I may have missed the real train and the sign over the entrance to the track suddenly changes after my train has departed.
this happens a lot in the Netherlands as well and also in Germany as I recall.
Jul 24th, 2014, 04:01 AM
#63
Join Date: Aug 2012
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>>You do not have to understand an iota of the announcement - just go with the flow - all others dashing away just follow the crowd.<<
I'm the type of person who likes to know where I'm supposed to be and why I'm standing there. Following a crowd that abruptly changes flow is not something I would want to be a part of. I go to Milan on business. I had 2, 50 lb bags (mostly work stuff) plus computer equipment. This past June, Milan was experiencing a terrible heat wave the week I was there. The last thing I wanted to endure was a mad dash in the train station. It felt like an oven on broil in there.
I really enjoyed the new Frecciabianca train. It may seem like a large crowd waiting at the main board, but all those people aren't going to just one car. My train had 9 or 10 cars and my car took about 20 minutes to fill up. It sat there for 30. I thought boarding was very civilized, and for the first time I noticed the digital box near each door with the train number and the car number. Easy to identify. Also near that box you see the seat numbers that correspond with that entrance, which helps you enter the correct door and avoid walking down a long aisle with heavy bags. I enjoyed my train travel this trip.
I'm the type of person who likes to know where I'm supposed to be and why I'm standing there. Following a crowd that abruptly changes flow is not something I would want to be a part of. I go to Milan on business. I had 2, 50 lb bags (mostly work stuff) plus computer equipment. This past June, Milan was experiencing a terrible heat wave the week I was there. The last thing I wanted to endure was a mad dash in the train station. It felt like an oven on broil in there.
I really enjoyed the new Frecciabianca train. It may seem like a large crowd waiting at the main board, but all those people aren't going to just one car. My train had 9 or 10 cars and my car took about 20 minutes to fill up. It sat there for 30. I thought boarding was very civilized, and for the first time I noticed the digital box near each door with the train number and the car number. Easy to identify. Also near that box you see the seat numbers that correspond with that entrance, which helps you enter the correct door and avoid walking down a long aisle with heavy bags. I enjoyed my train travel this trip.
