Originally Posted by
bdemaria
A lot of this depends on the type of train you take. Roman commuter trains are notorious for being late. Int'l trains can be tricky as well. However, the Italian ES system runs on time. On the rare chance is isn't on time and you are more than 30 minutes late, you get an immediate cash refund of 50% of the cost of your ticket. In 10+ years of riding the ES, approximately 10 round trips a year, I have qualified for the rebate 1 time. In all other instances I have arrived early, on time or w/in 5 minutes of the scheduled arrival.
most of our travels had been on the es have been between bologna and venice in feb. on one occasion, the es was buried in snow, and many hours late. the railroad ticket seller put us on the ic . she was adament that there would be room for us, and that it would be on time. they pulled out a fresh train that started in bologna, and went straight to venice. took about 10 min longer than the es. first class was half the price and twice as luxurous as the amtrak here in us. we now take the ic(do I have the letters correct?).