Discontinuing Frecce trains Rome to Bari?
 

Are they discontinuing the Frecciargento trains from Rome to Bari starting March 1, 2020, or am I looking too early for the March schedule? I'm looking at later dates for other routes, and the Frecce trains seem to all be posted, but -0- for the Rome to Bari line other than the really slow trains. Does anyone know?

Update:

I just checked Trenitalia for 1 March and in addition to the morning Intercity, now you can already see a Frecciargento Roma 16:05 Bari 19:42.

It seems the trains are getting added gradually, you just need a little patience(It's often useful in Italy!)


I don't know, but as a railfan I follow European railway news, even some insider forums and based on my experience I would say

1) The most likely scenario: Trenitalia as usual can't keep a deadline of loading up the new schedules into the system. Solution: Sit back an relax, March is a still a long way and if you can't book, that means nobody can book so you don't have to worry about the cheap fares getting booked out. Just keep checking it from time to time until the Frecce appear again. It may happen tomorrow, or only in the middle of January.

2) There may be engineering works on the line(it's quite possible, since this line still has to be upgraded for faster speed) and the schedules will be altered. It may actually mean that there will be no Frecce trains on this line for a while.

What we know is that the morning Intercity train (Roma 7:28 Bari 14:00) appears on the timetable, so this direct train seems to be running for sure. It takes 2 hours longer than the Frecce trains.

In Italy, people buy train tickets days or weeks ahead, not months. You can't rely on data months ahead,.

Some Italians who want to save money do buy train tickets months ahead and they also tend to book their plane and train tickets months in advance if they travel abroad. I'm not a fan of booking so long in advance, but that's the way it is today.

They've supposedly added two more daily runs directly to Bari. It's just the website not keeping up.

This is not really true. Usually, the Frecciarossa scheduled are loaded months in advance. There is likely a particular reason why these are late. The regional train schedules tend to be posted late, because there is always a tussle between the railway, who would like to cut trains that are losing money, and the region, who partially fund regional trains and want to keep them all at the least cost they can negoziate.

Also, for the Freccia trains, we do try to buy them months in advance, because we like to save money.

For years, I've been buying my long-haul train tickets at the end of December for my trips in March, and usually save around 50% by doing so.

For this next trip, I'm actually going from Rome to Lecce. The Frecciargento that shows until the end of February leaves at 8:05 a.m. and is around 5 hours total, which is do-able. If the only availability after March 1 is to take a 9+ hour milk run train, then I will likely revise my itinerary and go somewhere else. I will keep checking for the next couple of weeks for the Frecce schedule in the a.m. in March, as I'd really like to visit Lecce this trip.

They two runs I mentioned are the ones to Lecce. Stops only in Bari before Lecce.

https://www.trenitalia.com/it/inform...2019-2020.html

"Nuovi collegamenti veloci tra Roma e Lecce"

Those are new so it's unlikely they announced them Monday and canceled them already

If you want a cynical answer they're just avoiding going too far out to maximize revenue.

If you could leave Rome 1 day earlier, you could also take the night train from Rome to Lecce which is running on Fridays. Leaving Rome shortly before midnight and arriving to Lecce after 8AM.

The most likely scenario is that you are the only rail fan in Europe who doesn't know that in 2019 the deadline to upload the new winter schedules is December 14.
Since Trenitalia has never missed a deadline for the European seasonal timetable change, "as usual" is referred to...?

I know the timetable change happens on 15 December, but is that the deadline to publish the new timetable?

In Hungary for example the new timetable has to be published a month before the timetable change(15 November in this year) by the law, the practice was a bit different as usual.

I don't know if there is such a deadline in Italy, what I know is that the better railways of Europe, like DB, SBB, ÖBB, load up the new schedules well ahead of the 15 December.

Thanks for the deadline info, Falcio. That could be the explanation I was looking for!

OP Holly, plz forgive the following deviation from topic and feel free to do same on any of my posts anytime.

Gentilissima Fodorites,
Need advice regarding Frecciarossa ticket fiasco of my own making. We recently bought tickets online for a pair of train journeys, one from Rome to Naples in April, plus another from Salerno to Rome in May. We only have the PNR number for the latter.

Two problems occurred. First our printer died, causing me to express many bad words using inappropriate volume. Just prior to the printer death, it did however, spit out one condensed colour ticket with crucial details seemingly 'folded' upon themselves, but at least clearly included the aforementioned PNR number. That, for the latter train ride. Then I accidentally erased both tickets off of our computer, including from our 'deleted' emails collection (I was quite sick at the time and not thinking clearly). A Tech Hall of Fame award will never come my way.

So for the past 72 hours, I've been trying to phone Trenitalia using the numbers in their Call Centre. The foremost, regular number has not worked, in that it has repeatedly hung up on me after I'd been waiting in queu for a couple of minutes. Once, swear to god, LOUD overly-distorted rock music blared as the 'muzak' while I waited. Then the alternate, supposed '24/7' number seemed not to work at all from Canada. God's sense of humour.
I have emailed a plea to Trenitalia to resolve our problem, asking them to re-issue the 2 tickets by snail mail. Gotta admit that I am not feeling fully confident about Trenitalia's reliability, given the above phone nonsense.
Any experience? Any ideas? Any input?
Grazie
I am done. The end.

PS Holly---we took that Bari-Rome train 2 yrs ago and it was a fun ride, Lazio, the Vanvitelli aqueduct, the Puglian heartland. Very visual, very smooth. You will enjoy it. Maybe check into half-price Saturdays?

I assume you didn't register? Or use the app?

Have you tried contacting them via Twitter? Or even facebook?

https://twitter.com/lefrecce?lang=en

Try contacting them. You can't mess it up any worse

Zebec, don't worry, the PNR is sufficient. It allows the ticket collector to see your name. Sometimes you may be asked to show ID, but usually not.

I think Zebec only has one PNR . The number for the first trip has been lost

Rereading your email, it seems that for the first ticket you don't have even the PNR. In that case, you'd better try to find a copy of the email. Most providers keep an online copy of email, unless you erased that also, or chose not to save them.

Or as Nick suggested, try contacting them another way.

>>>Then I accidentally erased both tickets off of our computer, including from our 'deleted' emails collection<<<

Device? Email provider?

Grazie tutto. Um, some facts:
1) I am a certified moron when it comes to tech.
2) I am a certified moron when it comes to tech.
3) I really am battling a bad cold and my mental capacities for this, crippled at the best of times, are even more compromised.
4) We have never owned a cellphone, nor gone on Twitter--its not part of our lifestyle. Two home computers has been how we get by.
5) I did notice the registration option, but chose to ignore it, given that we've successfully purchased Trenitalia tix a number of times in recent years wizout mishap.
6) I need for the person who was hired to install that Call Centre pair of phone numbers to be banned from wearing adult clothing for the next year.

Thanks all, will pursue 'provider' next. Fingers crossed. Maybe the Train Gods will smile on us, after all, in our TR here ('Bella Puglia'), I did say some nice things about Trenitalia.

I am done. The end.

I would also try posting on the Trenitalia Facebook page, as already suggested. When I was having a big problem with my Italian phone provider, Facebook proved to be the best way to get through to them.

Keep in mind, though, that even if you can't find any record of the ticket purchase, and if you never get in contact with anyone at Trenitalia, it's not the end of the world. It's still early enough to get a good price on tickets from Rome to Naples.

Yo BV, you're right of course, its not the end of the world. But we do sometimes fall into this mindset of, "Dammit, I worked hard for that money and am not gonna just flush it now, not wizout a fight!" Petty I know, but still. Provider has told us that they cannot help. I'm leery of FB coz our info could go public, but its probably our last chance for re-issuing. Am resigned to buying new Rome-Naples tickets if that does not work.
Sincere thanks to all.
Bacios.
I am done. The end.

For anyone still following this thread for the train to Bari saga, here's the update:

It's December 14th and, sure enough, the Frecce trains are posted! I will be reserving the 8:05 to Lecce (about 5.5 hrs. from Rome) sometime this weekend. Lecce is on!

TIMETABLES ROMA TERMINI - BARI - LECCE FOR MARCH 1st 2020:

Rome dp 08.05 - Bari ar 12.04 - Lecce ar 13.28
Rome dp 15.08 - Bari ar 19.09 - Lecce ar 20.35
Rome dp 16.05 - Bari ar 19.42 - Lecce ar 21.44
Rome dp 18.05 - Bari ar 22.02 - Lecce ar 23.23
Rome dp 19.05 - Bari ar 22.50 - Lecce ar 0.54

zebec
Have you checked your credit card statement for trip #1?
Sometimes the statements include extra informations re. the purchase, in your case it could be the PNR. Or not.
Wouldn't hurt to take a look, I guess.

>>>Grazie tutto. Um, some facts:<<<

>>>Thanks all, will pursue 'provider' next.<<<

While you gave us a fact (you were on a computer), you didn't give all pertinent facts so that people might help you (type of computer/email provider).

If you are on a windows computer, did you delete the email (you said erase which means?)? If you deleted and you are on windows, go to the trash can/recycle bin icon on your home screen. Your email will be in there unless you purposely clicked that trash can and deleted it.

If you were using gmail, you might be able to retrieve your email within 30 days (when you send an email to trash on gmail, it stays in there 30 days).

He clearly said that he "accidentally" deleted the email not only from his INBOX but also from his "deleted emails", which I presume means Trash (or the Recycle Bin). I don't know how you can accidentally do that, it requires some effort to go into Trash to find something and then delete it from there, but that's his story. if you have some public use email like Gmail, it does not appear in the Recycle bin on your own computer if you delete it.

(we see poor Holly pulling her hair out and banging her head against the wall, "This fucking ZEBEC--he hijacked my thread!")

I'm awful sorry Holly, its not my style to hijack posts too often and with such lasting strength. Plz accept my apology by way of the following Lecce foodic facts as suggestions on how to get the best out of the town. Hope that some of them prove useful for you. Hope that you have a great trip.

Most under-appreciated attraction in Lecce: Everyone knows about the Roman Amphitheatre but few know of the more intimate Roman Teatro just behind the M.U.S.T. museum.

Some places to eat in Lecce: All Ombra del barocco (breakfast, live music and more); Mamma Elvira Enoteca (vino and chance to try specialties from Martina Franca); Valentino (traditional deli w. many old-school Pugliese baked goods); La Prelibatezza and also L’Angolo della Puccia (perfectly acceptable budget sandwich/puccia take outs); Doble Zero (doubles as a deli); and lastly, a longstanding local family favourite for Calabrian dishes, 'La Veccia Osteria’. We ate there twice.

Best place for carnivores in Lecce: Just through Porto Napoli, by the obelisk, there is meat place called ‘Locanda de Macellaio’. Locals outnumber tourists 50-1. Argentinians and Brazilians, this is your kind of place.

An indispensable trio for self-caterers in Lecce: Just through Porto Rudiae arch, travelers find a slice of less-commercial, more local Lecce at places like ‘Golosona’ pizza. You will also find a small, permanent market called ‘Mercantino Rudiae’, which sells produce, fish, roast chicken and a bit more. Next-door is ‘Bar Rudiae’ (pasticcio plus) and across the road is the all-important ‘Supermercato di Lecce’, which offers most everything, including hot prepared foods. Also try some grano or durum grain. It goes well with mussels and olive oil. Bonus: Each Sunday, there is a modest farmer’s market @pza. Bottazzi beyond Porto Biagio arch. It includes a seafood truck from Gallipoli.