Booking trains in Italy

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nirakaro
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Re: Booking trains in Italy

Post by nirakaro »

MarcusT wrote: ... the best plan is to go to the ticket booth and advise them you have a bicycle and for which train...

Depending on your facility with the language. You can also buy tickets - for you and the bike - from the ticket machines, which offer to talk to you in English.
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Sweep
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Re: Booking trains in Italy

Post by Sweep »

My experience is limited - always in Sardinia (note - not Sicily) and always with folders.

So never had any issue getting on.

Brompton obviously no problem on Trenitalia, or on the "complementary railway" - can't remember the status of the latter railway - if semi state hived off or kinda private, but it is definitely not Trenitalia.

The dahon caused some discussion amongst the staff on the "complementary railway" and I had to pay.

Even though it was also folded and also covered. And smaller than many suitcases.

This was also the railway used by DH Lawrence, though he wasn't on a bike.

Don't know if it's still the case but once a year, by grace of god, Trenitalia used to have a day where you could take your bike for free.

A local cycling group I rode with sometimes used to organise a special trip to celebrate this.
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ConRAD
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Re: Booking trains in Italy

Post by ConRAD »

Sweep wrote:... in Sardinia ...

Afaik most of principal train lines in Sardinia belong and are directly managed by Trenitalia.
As an example I searched for Cagliari-Olbia and i've got the following result, perhaps you've to pay an extra of about 3 Euros but the bicycle can be transported w/o problems on the bicycle identified carriage:

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Sweep
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Re: Booking trains in Italy

Post by Sweep »

Don't think this is trenitalia conrad.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrovie_della_Sardegna

Have travelled it a few times, with and without bikes.

As I said they charged for the dahon but not the brompton.

But no matter, I got on the train no bother.

Brommie was taken part way here by their little train to isili, though I cycled round and about, then up some biggish hills and back to cagliari.
brompton01.jpg
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ConRAD
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Re: Booking trains in Italy

Post by ConRAD »

What I understand is the following:

FdS-Ferrovie della Sardegna (Railways of Sardinia), founded in 1989, is a narrow gauge railway system using diesel locomotives and multiple units, electrified tram-trains in the metropolitan areas of Sassari and Cagliari and vintage diesel and steam locomotives on the tourist lines. So far till 2010 it was an Italian public company that managed the regional railway network in the island of Sardinia, then in 2010 it was totally integrated into the main regional public transport company known as ARST-Azienda Regionale Sarda Trasporti.
Under the name of ARST is still today the second railway operator in Sardinia, after Ferrovie dello Stato, having 203 kilometers of railways used for public transport, plus another four tourist lines, known as Trenino Verde, which run through the wildest parts of the island.
However the line Cagliari-Olbia (the dark green line in the map below) is operated by Trenitalia S.p.A. that belongs 100% to Ferrovie dello Stato S.p.A.
Also, as you can see, the blue line between Cagliari and Isili is a reduced gauge railway and as such it's very likely NOT to be part of Trenitalia.

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Sweep
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Re: Booking trains in Italy

Post by Sweep »

ConRAD wrote:What I understand is the following:

FdS-Ferrovie della Sardegna (Railways of Sardinia), founded in 1989, is a narrow gauge railway system using diesel locomotives and multiple units, electrified tram-trains in the metropolitan areas of Sassari and Cagliari and vintage diesel and steam locomotives on the tourist lines. So far till 2010 it was an Italian public company that managed the regional railway network in the island of Sardinia, then in 2010 it was totally integrated into the main regional public transport company known as ARST-Azienda Regionale Sarda Trasporti.
Under the name of ARST is still today the second railway operator in Sardinia, after Ferrovie dello Stato, having 203 kilometers of railways used for public transport, plus another four tourist lines, known as Trenino Verde, which run through the wildest parts of the island.
However the line Cagliari-Olbia (the dark green line in the map below) is operated by Trenitalia S.p.A. that belongs 100% to Ferrovie dello Stato S.p.A.
Also, as you can see, the blue line between Cagliari and Isili is a reduced gauge railway and as such it's very likely NOT to be part of Trenitalia.

Image


Hi conrad
Arst is in effect the regional bus company i think.
Yes, it is narrow gauge. It was for a long time an important part of the train network for the broad gauge network is pretty limited.
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Cyril Haearn
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Re: Booking trains in Italy

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Broad gauge or standard gauge? Sardinia looks really interesting for railway enthusiasts :wink:
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Sweep
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Re: Booking trains in Italy

Post by Sweep »

Cyril Haearn wrote:Broad gauge or standard gauge? Sardinia looks really interesting for railway enthusiasts :wink:

It's a limited network bryn.
The train from cagliari to sassari is unbelievably slow, far slower than the bus I am pretty sure.
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ConRAD
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Re: Booking trains in Italy

Post by ConRAD »

Sweep wrote:... Arst is in effect the regional bus company i think ...


This is what wikipedia says:

ARST S.p.A. (Azienda Regionale Sarda Trasporti) is a public company responsible for public transportation owned by the autonomous regional administration of Sardinia.
The company is headquartered in Cagliari and has 2,166 employees.
It operates a large part of the intercity bus lines on the island (it had 175 bus lines and a network of 13,500 km in 2007), urban bus lines in six municipalities (Alghero, Carbonia, Iglesias, Macomer, Guspini and Oristano), commuter and urban rail transport on 169 km of narrow gauge railways and on two metrotramways operating in Sassari and Cagliari.
ARST operates also 438 km of narrow railways, based on 4 lines, used as a rail tourism service, called Trenino Verde.
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Sweep
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Re: Booking trains in Italy

Post by Sweep »

Yes i know wiki conrad.
Plus side - its buses cagliari to sassari faster i think than train.
Downside - info at stops, particularly in cagliari, can be poor to non existent.
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