ROME: Passengers of an Italian high-speed train were left stranded last week after it departed almost one hour early — so it could arrive on time, the train operator acknowledged on Monday.

Rome’s Termini station had been full of travellers last Friday anxious about the effect of a national transport strike which stopped local buses, trams and the subway.

Thankfully, Trenitalia’s high-speed “Silver Arrow” to Genoa, in northwest Italy, was operating, scheduled to leave at 4:20pm. But when it was time to board, several passengers searched in vain for the train on the departure board — only to discover it had left at 3.30pm. The train had to take a slower route due to maintenance on the usual line, the railway operator explained. But to arrive on time, this meant leaving 50 minutes earlier.

A journalist from the La Stampa daily was one of the passengers who failed to received a message on their mobile phones alerting them to the timetable change. The newspaper reported the train had left the station half empty.

Trenitalia insisted only a “small number” of passengers did not receive the alert.

Published in Dawn, November 12th, 2024