Source: Unioncamere del Veneto press office
The President of Unioncamere del Veneto, Mario Pozza, commented on the new Trenitalia and Italo timetables for the Veneto region, which came into force on 12 December: – We
appreciate the efforts made to improve the service and enhance certain routes, such as the one connecting our region with Milan, and we are aware of the difficulties experienced due to the
Covid-19, but once again businessmen, representatives of institutions and associations in the Veneto region are left without a connection to Rome that meets their real needs.
In fact, – continues Pozza, – with the new timetable, the situation has not changed because there is no train that can get us to Rome at around ten o’clock without leaving at
dawn, so that we can organise a day of appointments and business meetings. Today, entrepreneurs in the Veneto region have a train available that leaves Mestre at 5.38 a.m. and arrives in Rome at
around 9.30 a.m., but for those who do not live, for example, in Padua or Mestre, it is not easy to manage and forces them to get up in the middle of the night. The next train is the 6.38 and
arrives in Rome at 10.25, but this train is often delayed due to technical problems, station breakdowns, waiting for another train… And so arrival at your destination is never certain and it
becomes difficult to organise your day and sometimes forces you to cancel meetings that have been scheduled for months. And if we look at Italo’s timetable, the situation is no better with the
first train from Mestre at 7.17 a.m. arriving after 11 a.m. Nor is air travel an alternative due to the limited supply of return flights to Rome.
For these reasons we have repeatedly asked for the reinstatement of the 6.18 am train, but Trenitalia have granted us the 6.38 am train and this is not a solution that fully satisfies us.
This solution would allow us to arrive in Rome by 10 a.m. and thus have enough time to manage our meetings with the Roman institutions and return at an appropriate time. This would save time
and, above all, costs, because we would not have to sleep out in order to put together all our appointments. For tourists, there are trains that meet their needs and make very few stops, but for
business travellers such as entrepreneurs, representatives of institutions and associations, we cannot find adequate solutions.
I hope that a compromise can be found for the summer calendar, because this part of Italy is already suffering from a slowdown in high-speed trains and, as has been pointed out, does not have
the option of air transport, making it very difficult to plan trips to Rome. In Veneto, in recent months, not only entrepreneurs, but also institutions and representatives of associations have
teamed up to highlight the criticality and ask for the inclusion of a train in line with the needs of those who live in these areas. The Veneto produces a GDP that drives Italy thanks to its
550 thousand companies behind which there are entrepreneurs and administrators who need to move for their meetings and use the train because it allows them to work while travelling. And today it is
a sustainable and less polluting solution compared to travelling by car.
I reiterate – concludes Pozza – that we are aware that Covid-19 has also had a very negative impact on Trenitalia and Italo, but what we are asking for is simply a service designed
to meet the needs of an important part of users in the Veneto region. We remain confident that the situation can improve because the Veneto region deserves to be put in a position to organise
business trips to the capital.
