Welcome to today's thread - #CrossBorderRail 2026 Tour Day 31 - 4 May - Rimini - Bologna - Milano - Lugano - Basel - Strasbourg

[jon@gruene.social]

FR 9618
10:56 Bologna Centrale - Milano Centrale 11:58

Distance: 214.4km
Average speed: 207km/h

1 stops:
Milano Centrale

This train, mapped: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-2026-spring-tour_1361108#10/45.003718/10.273965

#CrossBorderRail

[jon@gruene.social]

It’s so nice travelling by train in Italy. Pity #CrossBorderRail hasn’t brought me here very much! (Not many borders)

[hatetsu@mastodon.com.pl]

@jon I'll call you if I find a reality where the Risorgimento never happened XD

[meganl@mas.to]

@jon Interesting. What do you like in particular about trains in Italy?

[jon@gruene.social]

@meganL steady improvement of everything. Good regional and high speed trains. Dense timetables. Fair prices. Generally quite reliable. It’s solid all round. And there are many routes that have beautiful things to see out of the window.

[meganl@mas.to]

@jon Ah, that's nice. Unfortunately, the window in my class covered two rows and an Italian woman pulled the shade down so I could not see as much. But what I saw was nice.

[jon@gruene.social]

@meganL oh I’d just push it up again (I’m aware being that much of a pain might not be everyone‘s style, but I can be very direct and German if I need to!)

[jon@gruene.social]

@tobiaswatzl.bsky.social Right. But towards & it’s improving. Towards it’s annoying. Towards the infra is crap.

[meganl@mas.to]

@jon If they hadn't been Italian, I probably would have been more assertive, but it's literally "When in Rome..." there.

[jon@gruene.social]

Take your pick of high speed trains in Milano. And a Rock

[wyatt_h_knott@mstdn.social]

@jon That's more high speed trains in one station than we have on my entire continent.

[jon@gruene.social]

However these data problems here are incomprehensible

DB and SBB think the 12:43 train is to Lugano

Trenitalia thinks it only goes to the border station Chiasso /

(It will go to Lugano)

[jon@gruene.social]

There were also some ETR500 and Giruno too. But those weren’t so neat to photograph.

[reinouts@mastodon.green]

@jon The second one looks like a rebranded #Fyra that the #NS returned to Italy after loads of issues...

[jon@gruene.social]

@reinouts it is indeed. I took one this morning. They run ok here!

[timwardcam@c.im]

@jon The problem I had in Milan was buying a ticket. I knew where I wanted to go, but neither knew nor cared which company was running the train, and I was faced with a room full of dozens of ticket machines from different companies with no clue as to which one to use for my chosen destination.

So obvs local people have spotted a business opportunity here, and seeing that I looked a bit puzzled a tout came up to me to offer to guide me to the correct machine. Which he did - thanks! - but he was out of luck because I didn't have any euro cash on me, having just got off the plane.

[eetschrijver@mastodon.social]

@jon I spot the infamous AlnsaldoBreda VR250, swiftly rebranded after its short-lived and catastrophic appearance in the Netherlands.

[jon@gruene.social]

@TimWardCam this is where online ticketing helps

Oh and the forthcoming EU ticketing data regulation will assist further (forcing data sharing).

[cycling_on_rails@mastodon.social]

@jon @meganL I agree it's good and improving. Some things could be better though:
- Frequency is top-notch on high-speed lines, but clockface scheduling would help on regional lines.
- Luggage space design is poor on high-speed trains. But there is an understanding that in practice some leeway is important for tourism.
- Official options are sometimes terrible with bicycles. e.g. 2 Milano-Napoli connections per day that are very slow and at inconvenient times. No bike spaces on night trains.

[timwardcam@c.im]

@jon Well, the existing system did actually work for me ... albeit it didn't work for the tout!

Though I do wonder, in these days when few people carry any cash of any type, how long the touting business will survive.