Cinque Terre Train reliablility
 

On a forthcoming trip I having a few days in the cinque terre(maybe up to 4). I haven't booked accommodation for May yet, but am looking to stay in one of the 5 villages. Upon leaving the Cinque Terre, I will have a train from La Spezia. Is the cinque terre village train reliable enough for me to leave my hotel early in the morning(around 7am), and board the cinque terre village train for connection to a train from La Spezia to southern Italy at 9 am ?
Thanks in advance

I have never had a problem

Ah, but you never know when there might be a strike or some other problem. Riding trains in Italy means your plans must be flexible.

Mimar, I don't think you would realistically plan a trip accounting for rail strikes?? if I'm wrong please advise! Having never used the Italian train service before, I was interested in the general reliability of the milk run service between the cinque terre towns, and if I should allow a minimal time for arrival at La Spezia before departing on another service.
thanks for the replies

Hi Nav - No problem - it's less than 30 mins to La Spezia ...

Steve

hello Steve,
Thanks for the info. I did a little more research and the train looks to be part of the trenitalia network (times available on the site), so one would think problems would not arise anymoreso than any other train on the network.
cheers

Well, unless things have changed recently, train strikes are quite common in Italy. Some years ago, our first time in Venice, as we were leaving, I noticed a small piece of paper taped to the station wall. On it, written in a blue felt pen and in Italian, it said there would be a 48-hour strike starting the next day at 1400 hours. Sure enough, the train stopped in the middle of nowhere and dumped the passengers off into fields or whatever. Leaving them to find their way onward.

We were last in Italy in 2005. We took a train from Nice to Camogli and back. Both journeys were interrupted (and lengthened) by train problems on the Italian legs.

There's a word in Italian; it means hiccup-strike. Can't remember it but it's very onomatopoetic. Hiccup-strikes are short, unannounced strikes. As opposed to the longer, announced strikes, like the one I saw announced in Venice.

So I wouldn't plan a tight train connection anywhere in Italy.

Up until recently, I'd've said, NO problem. On our last trip to Italy, though, we experienced out first train cancellation. Cinque Terre - Milan, no less. It completely messed up our plans, but we managed to regroup and get where we needed to get, albeit much later than we'd planned.

In all the years I've travelled by European trains, though, this was our first time to have this happen. (I've had it happen in California at least twice, and I don't even ride the train here very often!) Just be prepared to be flexible, that's all!

I write you from Italy.
Our current situation related to train relaiability is pretty good and can be compared to other Countries in Europe.
You should not have any big problem.

Ciao, arrivederci.

Gianni P. (Milan)

We had a huge problem waiting for a train from La Spezia to Cinque Terre. Delayed us by two hours and there was no stike going on. I would plan more time.

Don't depend on the slow trains to make a close connection. They simply get lower priority where there is a conflict of 2 trains needing a single track run. That is why they park for long unscheduled periods at weird places. Most CT trains are these slow ones, but you can confirm on the train web sites.

I will definitely allow a good couple of hours between arriving at La Spezia and departing on the next service. Other than that, I guess the other option is to stay in La Spezia the night before the trip south towards Rome!
Thanks again for the replies

There is no need to wait two hours at La Spezia. To be cautious, I'd catch the train before the one I needed to. From Monterosso, for example, there are trains to La Spezia at 0712, 0735 and 0813 which will get to La Spezia before 0900, so it might be prudent to get the 0735 rather than the 0813.
In Italy, local stopping trains are pretty reliable. Long-distance trains can be less reliable, mainly because they often have very long journeys: trains to and from Sicily tend to be the worst because they have the complication of the ferry crossing of the Straits of Messina.

Thanks Geoff,

Monterosso was the village I'd intended staying in and from what I saw on the trenitalia site, has a few more services than the other villages.
Cheers