In Italy, train leaves early to arrive on time

Passengers of an Italian high-speed train were left stranded last week after it departed almost one hour early -- so it could arrive on time, the train operator acknowledged Monday.

Rome's Termini station had been full of travellers last Friday anxious about the effect of a national transport strike which stopped local buses, trams and the subway.

Thankfully, Trenitalia's high-speed "Silver Arrow" to Genoa, in northwest Italy, was operating, scheduled to leave at 4:20 pm.

But when it was time to board, dozens of passengers searched in vain for the train on the departure board -- only to discover it had left at 3.30 pm.

The train had to take a slower route due to maintenance on the usual line, the railway operator explained. But to arrive on time, this meant leaving 50 minutes earlier.

A journalist from the La Stampa daily was one of the passengers who failed to received a message on their mobile phones alerting them to the timetable change.

The newspaper reported the train had left the station half empty.

Trenitalia insisted only a "small number" of passengers did not receive the alert.

Either way, "the statistics are in order -- one fewer late train, one more train on time (if not an early one)", La Stampa wrote.

A Trenitalia spokesperson told AFP that passengers who missed the train were able to take the next one, at 4:57 pm, or claim a refund.

Trenitalia said its medium and long-distance lines recorded average delays of around nine minutes in 2023. The figure was two minutes for regional trains and around seven for international connections.

gab/ar/ide/rl