“When La Spezia workers return home on evening trains they are abandoned at the station. More night buses and extend the FS service up to Migliarina”

The many employees from La Spezia who work in the Cinque Terre are finding it quite difficult to return home at the end of the evening work shift. And for this reason we need to find a solution in a timely manner to increase the service. This is the request of Confcommercio La Spezia which has collected many testimonies from the owners of associated public businesses. The owners explain how the employees, once they get on the train towards La Spezia Centrale, are unable to reach their homes, forced to walk for kilometers or, as happens more often, give up their jobs. “In a situation where our businesses are already struggling to find staff, there is a significant problem that discourages workers in the tourism sector from continuing their work,” he explained. Vittorio Graziani, president of Confcommercio La Spezia. When employees return to La Spezia on evening trains, they find themselves “abandoned” at the station. Once upon a time many of these employees lived in the city but now obviously due to the growth of tourism many homes have been transformed into accommodation facilities and most of the workers have moved to the neighbourhoods. In fact, almost none of them live near the station. “There are girls and boys who have worked in our businesses for decades – explain some associates – and now they no longer want to work in the evenings. Finding staff is already tiring, but this way it becomes unsustainable.”

The association therefore requests that this category be better protected by offering the possibility of using an adequate service. “We expect that the increase in train fares will also correspond to an increase in services – continues Graziani -. A request in this case not only in the name of tourists, but also and above all in the name of those who work. We must enable these people to return home safely. We hope that both the railways and the local public service bodies can take action.” “This discomfort is not acceptable – he intervenes Gianni Bellingeri, president of Confcommercio Cinque Terre -. The last train that employees take to get home from work is at 11.30pm, ending at La Spezia Central station. These kids need to know how to get home.” Among the solutions requested, an increase in evening bus routes, but also an extension of the Cinque Terre Express to the Migliarina station, so as to bring passengers closer to the area most populated by young people who work in the businesses.