A complicated afternoon for many citizens returning from Bologna who had to encounter some disruptions to the Trenitalia network. The person who reported what happened was a commuter student who moved from Vaiano to Bologna to attend university, and who this afternoon, when returning home, encountered a series of difficulties related to bus-train transport.
This is his story. “Today on my way back from university – explains the young man to TV Prato – I took the 3.10pm replacement bus which should have arrived at the San Benedetto Val di Sambro Castiglione dei Pepoli station at 4.10pm and then took the connection towards Prato Centrale at 16.22. 2 buses left from Bologna Centrale as the capacity of just one was not sufficient to transport all the passengers and due to an accident on the A1 motorway the drivers had to take an alternative route: the result was that we arrived at San Benedetto station Val di Sambro Castiglione dei Pepoli at 4.40pm discovering that the connection to Prato Centrale had left according to the timetable on the board without waiting for us”.
Hence, the user protests. “At this point we started calling the Trenitalia reference numbers to find out how it was possible that they had started the train, probably empty, without waiting for us and we were told by the operator – continues the viewer – that there was no communication between the driver and the conductor and therefore the train left on time. At this point we asked that the problem be solved with another train or a bus that would take us to our destination but we received a ‘no’ response. There is no way to even get a bus to pick us up even though there are 3 large ones and 2 small ones stopped in the station square. We are stopped in a station in the middle of nowhere, far from the town, without Trenitalia staff, with the bar closed and without even an automatic machine to buy a bottle of water. We are 2 buses full of people, there are also children and elderly people, abandoned in the middle of nowhere by an already terrible service without basic necessities (water and food) and we were only told that we have to wait for the 6.42pm train. Something like this should never happen and above all – he points out – they cannot tell us that they cannot solve the problem. We are here waiting and hoping that no one needs to drink or eat because we don’t have that either. A state service – he concludes – that seems to abandon citizens”.
For its part, Trenitalia explains that it has not received any communication from the bus manager regarding the expected delay and, therefore, that it has guaranteed the punctual departure of the train towards Prato.
