Martin HoffmannHere’s a map! As there was a lot of waiting again today, a larger scale will work.
Good morning! Did you know there is a ferry from Pozzallo to Malta and it only takes an hour forty-five to cross? No that’s not the plan but it certainly is duly noted.
Pozzallo doesn’t have a ticket machine. Good thing ticket purchase through the Trenitalia app works quite well (only since August, if I understand the constant announcements correctly).
The next station announcement for Scicli is also in German but not in English. Did Baedeker like the place or something?
Quick change of plans. I wanted to take this train to Ragusa, but since Siracusa Depot hasn’t gotten the memo about Trenitalia’s new policy of keeping trains graffiti-free, I jumped off at Modica. From the map it looks like the section between Modica and Ragusa is the most scenic (with a helix and such), so should be worth re-rolling the dice.
But looks like this was my last ride on the Punk. Possibly for ever.
Palermo Centrale, where they have electrified the waiting area.
Stazione di fine giorno.
“It’s not cities that are loud, it’s cars that are loud.”
“What?”
“IT’S NOT C… ach, never mind.”
And today’s map. We started at nearly sea level, climbed up past Ragusa – a breathtaking section with gorgeous gorges*, then went down again to sea level at Gela, along the coast to Licata, then way up again to Caltanisetta, and from there down via Xirbi to sea level. Spectacular tour, this! The difference between the very dry south coast and the fertile north is markable.
* Oh, yes, he did!
G’day! Today I am trying something completely new: I will be using only one train for the entire day. It’s still a nine hour ride, mind.
But first, have a picture of a man on a horse.
Don’t underestimate the size of Sicily. The express train takes three hours from Palermo to Messina.
The plod is checking everyone’s documents. Like, properly, with scanning and typing names into phones and waiting around while we’re in a tunnel without coverage.
We’re going on a boat trip!
For the day Intercitys, they now just keep the locomotives on with the trains which speeds up operations quite a bit. Once your train has been pushed onto the boat, you can leave and wander around. Or not. Up to you, really.
Each four carriage plus locomotive half of the train (one from Palermo, one from Siracusa) fits exactly into one track.
How long does an iPhone last on a video call? Asking for the Australian lady across the aisle who’s been going on for an hour at least and won’t shut up.
Complaining to her friend on the speakerphone that people here are rude.
We’ve arrived in Villa San Giovanni exactly one minute early. Now just five more hours mostly north.
(The chatty Australians are going to Salerno. Guess it’s going to be a headphone afternoon.)
Twenty minutes past departure time in Villa and our driver just got bored and left the locomotive.
In many European countries you will find a white line going up and down in tunnels. They aren’t decoration but rather lead to a rescue alcove in the tunnel wall where you could hide from a train. The line is at the floor at an alcove and at its highest half way to the next one. Thus, wherever you are, you just need to follow the white line downwards to get to the nearest point of safety.
I miss my one hour breaks to take a walk through some small town. This is no way to travel!
The railway up the southern Tyrrhenian coast quite spectacular. Glad the night trains were all sold out.
(The sun is too low for train window photos, so you’ve got to go see it for yourself.)
Battipaglia, where the loop through the south closes. The end is getting nearer …
Almost on time in Napoli Centrale. We were a couple minutes early but got held up entering the station.
No map today since it is all very straightforward: Along the north coast of Sicily from Palermo to Messina and then along the west coast of the mainland from Villa San Giovanni to Napoli.
Good morning! The breakfast room was busy, so I went for a morning stroll through the old town of Naples instead. Much as expected, it is delightful, crumbling chaos.
Let’s do a bit of a train test this morning as these things are likely to appear in more places in Europe.
First issue: my seat is double booked. No, really. I checked. One reservation from a Trenitalia counter, one from ÖBB, both for the same day, train, carriage, seat. Let’s see what the conductor’s pad has to say.
Aha. So my question “Is that actually a 5?” was correct. The other reservation wasn’t for 5A but for 6A.
The ride quality of the train is as you would expect from a train designed jointly by Bombardier and Ansaldo-Breda. The suspension is very rough, lot of jittering and bumping and there’s a rather loud drone from the rolling of the wheels.
I guess the rule still stands: if you want smooth trains, go for Siemens or original Alstom.
The high-speed line between Rome and Florence has a top speed of 250 kph and still is electrified with 3000 V DC. Took them quite some to make that work as there are all sorts of unexpected physics things going on. By the looks of it, the wires are about twice as thick as normal, too. Should probably go and look up what the current limits are.
quinta - Stefano Quintarelli@partim incorrect. the top speed is 300Km/h
@quinta Design speed, yes. The operational top speed is 250. There were plans to increase it to 270 but the hasn’t happened.
@partim c'mon... I've travelled on that line for 5 years twice a week...
@quinta And yet you never did more than 250.
Just to be sure: We are only talking about Roma – Firenze.
thela