A complicated day is announced for those traveling by train today: delays (up to three hours) e cancellations of numerous trains throughout Italy after the derailment of a freight train in the Firenze Castello station, which occurred in the night between Wednesday 19 and Thursday 20 April. Traffic is interrupted between Firenze Castello and Bologna. The infrastructure, explains the FS Group, reported serious damage to the infrastructure - there were no injuries - so much as to prevent the regular passage of trains.
But there is good news. Fry announced the restoration of train traffic of the high-speed train at 12, which will take place gradually (and therefore with delays). Either way, it's always better monitor arrivals and departures today to avoid nasty surprises.
Train delays and cancellations: which routes are involved?
The derailment in the prices of Firenze Castello is serious for the railway viability because it is one of the most important stretches: hundreds of trains passing through here every day that connect the whole country. Due to the accident, several trains have been canceled or will travel more than three hours behind schedule. Which routes are involved? Block lines ad Milan-Rome and Venice-Rome high-speed trains, as well as the regional line Florence-Prato-Viareggio. In the north direction some high-speed connections are guaranteed up to Florence and in the south direction up to Bologna.
Trenitalia, then, also communicated one train list which have undergone changes in the route after the railway accident in Florence.
Trains on haywire: the alternatives
The alternatives to trains to reach Rome from the North and Milan from the South are now bus, planes and shared cars (BlaBlaCar). But even in these cases there are difficulties because the booking sites have obviously been stormed and tickets have skyrocketed. As for Ita Airways: the rush to reserve seats has brought prices over 500 euros per ticket.
You can try with BlaBlaCar, the carlift platform that connects those who offer them and those who are looking for them. But at the moment almost all the cars leaving from Milan for Rome are fully booked. Cars with still free seats leave in the evening, not before 20 pm, and ask for at least 50 euros for the journey.
How to get a train ticket refund from Trenitalia and Italo
Fs lets it be known that all the travelers will be refunded. You can request a refund of the ticket from the moment in which the impediment to travel occurs and up to one year from the date of the same: “at the ticket office; by filling in the appropriate webform available on this site, only for ticketless tickets; by calling the Call Center, for ticketless tickets purchased on the site, through the App or the Call Center; by mail to “Trenitalia SpA, Complaints and Refunds Office, Piazza della Croce Rossa 1, 00161 Rome”.
Warning: the refund, we read on the site Trenitalia, will be disbursed only upon proof of the cancellation of the trip, provided at the time when the impediment to the trip occurred.
Italo provides for automatic reimbursement, within one month, for trains canceled or delayed by more than an hour.
For the passengers of the Intercity 797, one of the first trains involved in the event, the full refund of the ticket in addition to the assistance of Trenitalia staff.
UPDATE 14
From 12, railway traffic resumed on the Florence-Bologna AV line. "The restoration work by RFI technicians (FS Group) continues to ensure full operation of the conventional Florence-Bologna line, which is still interrupted, where regional, Intercity and freight trains pass", explains a note from the Group.
