Not only on high-speed Trenitalia and Italo: also on regional and intercity trains must respect the rules of social distancing, occupying chessboard seats. As a result, the companies will only be able to sell half of the tickets. This is the conclusion to which Cscientific technical omit arrived on Wednesday and which the Minister of Health, Roberto Speranza, will illustrate in the Senate on Thursday.
The problem is that in recent weeks there has been a lot of confusion about rail transport. And not just for the mess on the high speed, but above all because eight Regions - the administrations normally responsible for local public transport - have given the go-ahead to sell out on local trains. It may seem incredible, but the list also includes the areas most affected by Covid-19: Piedmont, Lombardy, Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Emilia Romagna, Calabria, Sicily and Sardinia.
It will probably be necessary to break the resistance of these rebel Regions a new decree of the Presidency of the Council, which for reasons of national health security, also given the state of emergency, has the power to override the resolutions of local authorities. The institutional clash will take place today, during the State-Regions Conference, and will probably be heated. But it won't be easy to explain to citizens either that, after returning to normal for some time now and without a second wave of infections having arrived in the meantime, their way of traveling will have to change again.
In any case, the ban on sitting "face to face" with other passengers should include a derogation, presumably for cohabitants.
For planes, the Technical-Scientific Committee reiterated that they can continue to travel fully loaded, because the air exchange in the cabin is so rapid as to provide wider safety margins.
The practice to correct is another: that of baggage claim. Uncontrolled gatherings form on the conveyor belts, without any respect for safety distances, and this really constitutes a danger in terms of the spread of infections.
Finally, the Committee has given the green light to the restart of the cruises and, from 14 September, also of the school bus.
Read also: Ryanair flights: anti-Covid regulations violated, Enac threatens to stop.
Update: the incoming decree should also contain a new 15-day extension, from 15 to 31 August, for the obligation to use the mask in closed public places and in open ones where it is not possible to maintain safety distances.
