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-   -   Intercity & Regional Train (https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/intercity-and-regional-train-931575/)

salilbawa Apr 16th, 2012 02:35 AM

Intercity & Regional Train
 
How to book intercity and regional trains in italy.
Trenitalia shows only faster trains. How to book intercity say on the 8th from Florence to Venice

salilbawa Apr 16th, 2012 02:36 AM

Or Say for an earlier date (as We may not be able to book regional trains beyond 7 days)

Thanks

Ackislander Apr 16th, 2012 02:53 AM

You don't book regional trains. You walk up and buy a ticket in the station. They will sell you a ticket whether or not there is a seat, but most times there is not a problem except at school/commuting hours.

I haven't taken the ICE. Just the bottom and top rungs of the railway ladder, regionals the Frecciarossa.

Reading54 Apr 16th, 2012 04:30 AM

Regional train ticket, if purchased at a train station in Italy, is good for 60 days from the date of purchase until you validate it (then you must use it within x hours from the validation timestamp, however I don't recall what that x is). The ticket can be used to ride any regional train between the two pre-defined points within 60 days. Therefore you may purchase your regional train tickets once you are in Italy, and purchase them all at a train station when it is not very busy, provided you plan to use them within 60 days.

However, I read somewhere that says if you purchase R tickets online then your ticket does not have the 60-day latitude. Therefore it is better to purchase regional train tickets at a station after you arrive in Italy.

Reading54 Apr 16th, 2012 04:37 AM

Oops, I should not have said "between the two pre-defined points", it should be "from the starting point to the ending point". If you are traveling from A to B for a round trip, then you must purchase two tickets, one for traveling from A to B, and the other one for traveling from B to A.

salilbawa Apr 16th, 2012 05:17 AM

Thanks

Where can I see the list of the regional and intercity trains and timings.

salilbawa Apr 16th, 2012 05:20 AM

Thanks
Where can I see the list and timing and the pricing of regional and intercity trains

How to book intercity tickets
Thanks

jamikins Apr 16th, 2012 05:40 AM

www.trenitalia.it just put in a date for the next 7 days and you will see the schedule. I cant imagine it will change in the next month.

Reading54 Apr 16th, 2012 06:59 AM

I do not know why www.trenitalia.com does not show the slower trains. But you may go to the German train website at
http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en
Enter your info. But in the "Connections" section,
for "means of transport" - select the "All" radio button, and also UNCHECK the "prefer fast connections" checkbox.

In the returned results, click on "Later" link to look for trains that are marked as IC or R.
When you find one, click on the red box with a white right-arrow on the first column of that train and it will change into a down-arrow to show the details of the connection.

Henry Apr 16th, 2012 08:26 AM

salilbawa,
When the list of trains comes up on Trenitalia click on all solutions.

rineurope Apr 16th, 2012 08:58 PM

The Trenitalia site does show ALL connections. There's a lot of confusion out there as Trenitalia is changing over to a "revised" website. They need to ... as their site has always been confusing.

Unfortunately, there are really THREE Trenitalia websites that people are going to - and thus, the confusion. There's the old site: www.trenitalia.it/homepage_en.html where you can enter station names in English.

Then there's the "newest" revision at www.trenitalia.com - where they want you to go. Here you must enter the station names in Italian and you get a "different" look at train routes.

Then there's the Le Frecce section of the site - which I think they will be phasing soon out but those links are still out there. here you can only see high-speed connections, which seems to add to the confusion.

Just today, there is a notification at the Trenitalia website stating **NOTICE TO TRENITALIA.COM customers: today new ticketing system test! Who wants to be part of a test when they're spending hundreds of euro?

So there's a lot of turmoil and confusion - and and that's just at Trenitalia HQ! Here are two separate postings that explore the multiple website options:

http://tinyurl.com/trenitalia-online
http://tinyurl.com/tren-online

Eventually Trenitalia will get to ONE SITE (and hopefully soon)! They need to because there is no way they can support multiple sites... not to mention all the confusion that's out there and different methods of booking. And this could not come at a worse time for Trenitalia as the new upstart, the Italo trains, begin operation on April 28th. See:

http://tinyurl.com/italo-ntv

And Italo's website is EVERYTHING that Trenitalia's is not. How about EASY, Modern, intuitive, and easy to use. No doubt the Trenitalia site will look even more different in a few months as they play catch up.

Unfortunately, as Italo starts up they will have limited runs. So Trenitalia will probably be your "go-to" train option for the foreseeable future. Let's hope they spend some time on their competition's website and gain some pointers.

**** Just a note on Regionale tickets. Because there are no seat assignments for a Regionale train, as mentioned - they never sell out. Thus, there is no real advantage to buying a Regionale ticket online.

Regionale tickets bought online are emailed to you in a PDF printable file and they are ALREADY pre-validated.

Whereas a Regionale ticket bought at a train station or kiosk is valid for 2 months, your "pre-validated" online ticket is good for only 4 hours after your scheduled train departs. If you change your mind and want to travel the next day, an online-purchased Regionale ticket would be non-valid. In addition, your must have ID that identifies you as the person who purchased the tickets (the name you registered the tickets under).

With those limitations, it's rarely to your advantage to buy a Regionale ticket online. You can buy them in the stations or at a kiosk well in advance - After all, they're good for two months if purchased in this manner!

salilbawa Apr 17th, 2012 09:04 PM

OK. Thanks a lot.
Pl advise the school timings in Italy, to avoid school rush
Thanks


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