What is the difference between the different types of trains in Italy
 

I am planning on buyung a Europass to travel within Italy andacross other countries in Europe. On ething that has confused me as I plot my trip is the number of different types fo trains that seem to exist. I am sure there are service, speed, and price differences among them, but not sure which are good and which should be avoided. <BR> <BR>Some of the train names I have encountered are, Intercity, Estrella, Mainline Train, Eurostar, Interregional, Eurocity... <BR> <BR>Can anyone offer some insight?

In Italy, the ES (Eurostar Italia) trains are the fastest, fanciest and most expensive. Reservations are mandatory and included in ticket price. Next in line come the IC (Intercity) and EC (Eurocity) trains. Reservations are mandatory on some trains and optional in other. Finally, the IR (Inter Regional), E (Express) and R (Regional) trains are at the bottom of the line. No seat reservation service offered (except maybe for one or other E train). Just about all R trains offer only 2nd class seating service. <BR><BR>Paulo

If you buy the Eurrail pass I believe it will only work on the Eurrail trains. In Italy there is also the Ferrovia Stato trains, which is the Italian railway system that has Intercity (the fastest), Regionalla (makes some stops), and Directo (stops everywhere). Marilyn

Hi! <BR> Go to www.fs-on-line.com It is the Italian train system website..Has all info! Good Luck,Maggie

Do make sure that you compare costs of traveling point-to-point within Italy versus purchasing a Europass or a Flexi-pass. <BR> <BR>I've done train travel within Italy, and so know that point-to-point is relatively inexpensive. Don't how it stacks up against a pass when you're traveling across several countries in Europe. <BR> <BR>If you're covering alot of territory in Italy, I strongly recommend you stick with the EuroStar (ES)--nicest & usually runs on time or the the InterCity (IC) trains. If you plan to get to smaller towns (Cinque Terre, for instance), then you may have to travel on a Inter-Regional or Regional depending on where you're coming from. <BR> <BR>Despite its' quirkiness, best website for exploring train schedules in Italy is: www.fs-on-line.com <BR> <BR>Lastly, when keying in cities on the 'FS' site you need to enter the names as they are known in Italy (use 'Milano' for Milan, 'Roma' for Rome, 'Firenze' for Florence, 'Venezia' for Venice, etc.) <BR>

Thanks everyone for the great information and the quick responses...

I have to chuckle at advice like "you need to enter the names as they are known in Italy" <BR> <BR>I would phrase that "be sure to enter the correct name of the city, not some foreign language (like English) version". <BR> <BR>Not Venise, nor Venedig, nor Venice. Venezia has one name: Venezia. <BR> <BR>But now I am stirring up an ages-old pot of ... um, er... vitriol? <BR>

zzz Considering <BR>the website has 5 language choices [Italian, French, German, Spanish, English]. Wouldn't you assume you'd just type-in the names of the city in _your_ native language, seeing that the webpage is _in_ your language? <BR>

To 'zzz' --- as we are all speaking English on this forum, then for many of us this is how we know the names of the cities throughout Italian. And yes, it may sound ego-centric but we tend not to think of ourselves as 'foreign'. As for myself, I did not realize until I'd actually been to Italy that the names of the cities were different (& right now, there still may be posters who aren't aware that the correct name is 'Firenze' and NOT 'Florence'.) <BR> <BR>TO 'YYY' --- yes, one would like to assume that the different languages on the 'FS' website would reflect these nuances; however if you click on the English site & try to use the 'foreign' English names of the cities, it won't work. <BR>

- <BR>zzz: <BR> <BR>To clarify, do understand your amusement on how I phrase my comments. No vitriol taken & none given.

Tina Yes I know, the keyword in my post to zzz was _assume_ :o) <BR>