How To Find Your Train In Italian
Train Stations: Avoid Confusion and
Stress
From Mama Margaret’s Italy Travel & Food E-newsletter, July 27, 2011
On this trip in Italy in train stations, I found myself helping many confused tourists who couldn’t figure out how to find their train . A stressful experience, especially if you’re changing trains and time is tight.
Train departure information is everywhere---on TV-like screens, big black boards high above you usually in main hall area or on big yellow “Partenze—Departure” boards on station walls or on each train platform. But you soon feel like a detective digging for clues if you don’t know the ropes. Here’s how.
For example, you’re in the La Spezia train station and want to leave about 3:00 p.m. (1500 on 24 hour clock) for Riomaggiore in the Cinque Terre.
You look at the Partenze-Departure screens in the main station hall area and the yellow Partenze-Departure boards and see trains for Savona at 1502 and for Sestri Levante at 1510. See photos on the next page. Where is the train departure time for Riomaggiore buried?
Detective hat on, you dig deeper for details. Savona and Sestri Levante are the final stops on those train runs. You look at the yellow Partenze -Departure board under each final stop (photo 1, close-up photo 2) and see all the intermediate stops. Under
Savona at 1502, you see the train stops at Riomaggiore at 1510. Under Sestri Levante at 1510, the train stops at Riomaggiore at 1518. Case solved!
What platform is your train on? On the yellow boards and screens “Bin” means
“binario—platform”. Under Savona at 1502, you go to platform 2. Under Sestri Levante at 1510, you go to platform 5. I like to double check the ever updated screens in case they’ve changed the platform number. They announce these changes in Italian and English but you may not pick them up. You’ll also see a screen like this one below on the train platform so you can confirm you’re on the right one.
If you get off one train to change to another train, say at La Spezia to go to Riomaggiore, check the yellow Partenze-Departure board on the platform you arrive on to see what platform your next train is on. Often I get off at say, platform 4 and find my next train is on platform 5, a few steps away on the same platform! No need to navigate stairs and underground passage ways to get to my next train.