07 Jun 2024 10:00
It was yet another week of passion for commuters from Umbria and in particular from Terni, the first of June, due to delays, cancellations and rescheduling of trains between Rome and Terni and vice versa. Unfortunately, a script that has already been seen countless times – especially in this month of construction on the Rome-Ancona line – but which found its peak on Friday morning, when the train which left Terni at 6.57am arrived in the capital 60 minutes late and the following of 7.41 was cancelled. The 9.30 train from Termini to Terni – also crowded with tourists – instead stopped in Orte (replacement buses have been organized to reach the city of steel). The cry from commuters is unanimous: “We can’t take it anymore.”
But let’s go in order. «On Monday – a commuter reports to UmbriaOn – the 9.02pm train from Rome Termini to Terni was 30 minutes late. The 5.02pm train canceled on Wednesday. The one at 6.31pm, once it arrived in Orte, made the passengers get off to wait for the 19.02 arriving from Rome (late) with the result of arriving in Conca at 9.10pm”. Over two and a half hours to make a journey that takes an hour. «Thursday, from Rome to Terni, 3.46pm train left from Tiburtina instead of Termini, obviously without announcement of any kind. The 5.02pm train cancelled, the 6.02pm train on a slow line (therefore with travel times approximately 30 minutes longer, ed.). Friday the 6.57 train, 60 minutes late (also slow routed). The 7.41 train canceled due to rest of the on-board staff due to delays the day before”. Bad surprise, as mentioned, also for those who left Rome Termini on the 9.30 train.
“We believe there are no further comments to make on the matter” comments the commuter also on behalf of her ‘fellow sufferers’. «We are in an unprecedented commuting burnout. A mixture of resignation and anger, without a minimum of support from any institution that raises in a decisive, strong, pregnant and noisy way the discomfort, the torment, the psychological alienation that we are forced to experience every day. Workers, students, tourists. Anyone who has the terrible misfortune of having to use an FS branded train to reach Rome.”
Trenitalia, in response, explains that «yesterday there was a problem linked to the delays that occurred last night due to the presence of strangers on the line at the Rome hub. But this morning all the scheduled trains left Terni: 4539 5.30 arrived in Rome on time, 34847 6.26 arrived on time, 34703 7.02 (extraordinary made originating from Terni to replace the 4263 from Rieti) arrived on time, extraordinary train at 7.59am (with blues train) arrived at 9.13 in Rome”.
Thus the regional councilor for infrastructure and transport Enrico Melasecche: «I fully understand the inconveniences of commuters and I reiterate that our commitment towards Trenitalia and RFI is maximum. I am convinced that soon, with the reopening of the Orte-Falconara road from Monday after works that must be described as ‘epochal’, the situation will improve. It happens that problems, even relatively far from Umbria, reverberate on our lines with inconvenience for the many who use them every day. RFI and Trenitalia should continue to make their maximum commitment; on our part, in addition to constant monitoring, there is the need to carry out some decisive interventions. For Orte-Falconara, we’re here. For the FCU works between Perugia-Sant’Anna and Città di Castello, we are ready and they will see the light by September. The other commitments, on high speed and organisation, will continue to see us at the forefront as we have done so far. Furthermore – concludes the regional councilor – with the twelve 200 km/h Alstom trains that we have ordered and whose delivery will take place in 2025, the first three, the other nine in 2026, the situation will certainly improve with certain direct entry, which which today too frequently does not happen with the current old 160 km/h locomotives”.
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