Rail strike in Italy
 

How do I find out if there are any rail strikes planned in Italy during the month of Sept? anybody already aware of strikes?

www.trasportinavigazione.it/Allegati/scioperi.asp<BR>"Ferroviario" is the trains and the other 2 are easy to figure-out:), Aviation and Local Public Transport. Regards, Walter

is there a english site? i cannot read italian!

XXX: Neither can I:). But as I said look for "Ferroviario" which are the trains. On the website (5th listing down) it reads like this: <BR> 21/09/2002 22/09/2002 (Sept 21 to Sept 22) <BR> FERROVIARIO (Trains) <BR> PERSONALE GRUPPO FS FERROVIARIO E MARITTIMO (I assume is personal [workers] on the trains and Marittimo [ferries?] <BR> 24 ORE: (24hr-Strike) <BR> DALLE 21.00 DEL 21/9 ALLE 21.00 DEL 22/9 (From 9PM on Sept 21 to 9PM Sept 22). Regards, Walter<BR>

Thanks for all the help!

Try this link...<BR><BR>http://www.seekitaly.com/news/from_roma.html#STRIKES

Okay. Now I'm worried. I'm scheduled to take the Eurostar from Roma to Firenze Sept. 22nd, hoping to catch the train that leaves at 2:30pm. I looked at www.seekitaly.com/news/from_roma.html and they DO indicate that there will be a strike Sept. 21 from 9pm until Sept. 22 at 9pm. I guess I should try to figure out a way to get to Firenze before the strike begins.

The only sheduled thing in september will be a large demonstration in Rome, a marh to protest against Prime Minister Cavalier Silvio "Banana" Berlusconi's politics. Strikes ar not cheduled that long in advance, In any case, you shouldn't be too worried about it: a railway strike does not last more than 24 hours, at worst you will have to change your plans a bit.

Hi this is worrying me also. I was planning to take a train from Florence to Venice on 22nd afternoon. I already have hotel reservation in Venice on 22nd night. Are there buses between these two cities? how long will buses take? Please help!!!!

I may not be correct here, so if I am not please correct me. I am sure I have read that even during rail strikes some trains run, just not as often.

I just topped an item that I had posted on 8/1/02 regarding this subject. As with all things in Italy, particularly strikes, it could play itself out in so many different fashions.<BR><BR>Having been there when there before when there were scheduled strikes, I've seen everything from: 1) no strike at all happening, 2) partial strikes such as only some trains/buses/ferries were affected and 3) if there was a strike sometimes it could last anywhere from 1 hour to 24 hours....so. That said, all you can do is keep the information in mind and plan on options for travel should the strike actually occur. I happen to be in Lake Como/Milan during that time and plan to adjust my travel dates accordingly around the area, plus I've looked into car services and car rentals as back-ups.

Josh:<BR><BR>In Italy we say that you shouldn't bandage your head before you boke it. No trikes are scheduled. As you arrive in italy ask at any train station if there is a shceduled strike for that day, in case there is one (very ulikely), you will still have time to change your plans, leave to Venice one day before or one day later.<BR>Anissa:<BR><BR>Yes, there are a few trains running but, belive me, you do not want to try to travel with them!<BR><BR>Julie:<BR><BR>In italy there is not ONE railway workers trade Union. Trade unions are several, and sometimes ony one is on strike. In this case, the strike can affect no more than the 10% of the trains, or affect all train, depending on how large is the trade union. When the tree confederated Trade Unions are on strike (Cgil-Cisl-Uil) all trains stop, when only Cgil is on strike most trains stop, when Orsa (nother trade union) is on strike some 20% of the trains stop.

We were in Cinque Terre this summer, and planned to take a train to Venice from La Spezia one day. There had been a train strike that weekend, but it was supposed to be over by Monday. It seemed to be when we left La Spezia by train, but when we got to Pisa, where we were planning to get a train to Florence, then another to Venice, there was a strike. Everyone was buying bus tickets in order to get to Florence, but we had reservations in Venice for that night, and were worried that the trains wouldn't be running out of Florence, either, though we had been told they would. (We had also been told that they were running out of Pisa, which they obviously weren't.) So we took a bus to the airport and rented a car, and drove to Venice instead. We were able to drive into Florence and look around for a couple of hours, which wasn't a part of our original plan, and didn't have any trouble getting from the airport (where we returned the car) into Venice by bus. (Well, a little trouble. We couldn't figure out the ticket machine without some help.) So all that's to say that you can't really know if there's going to be a strike for sure or not, I guess. But going with the flow worked out fine for us, in fact, better!

Alice Twain, Thanks for the clarification!

Condy:<BR><BR>I remember taht monday. I was stuch in Pistoia oin sunday, and left to Milano on Monday morning. I did not have many problems, but people headed to Pisa Airport were stuck in Prato and getting very angry. That strike was not a national strike, it was one of the regional strikes that were sheduled in every Italian region (one by one): had you arrived in Florence you would have found closed museums and even the bus were not running (except a few). It was not a ailway strike but a regional general strike involving all Tuscanian workers.

I'm topping this to show the accuracy of the trasportinavigazione.it website posted above. It's been right in the past for the few times I've actually gone back and checked on train strikes. I believe they posted this September 21-22 strike in ~mid-late July. <BR>And according to http://www.italydaily.concento.it/ca...alydaily.jhtml (Sept 23,'02) there was a 24hr train strike on Sept 21-22. The Italy Daily article stated in began at 7PM (9PM?) on the 21st and that 50% of the trains were effected. Regards, Walter<BR>

So if you've pre-purchased your tickets & there is a strike, do you just lose your money?

Esther:<BR><BR>No, you do not lose your money, excepot for the 3 euro booking fee (which is not refundable). you can use your ticket on another day (within 60 days) or have a full refund bonus to be used within 180 days for buying another ticket or a 80% cash refund. Just go to the nearest railways station and ask at the ticket selling desk.