Accessible trains in Italy

[raindropsalways]

Trenitalia, the Italian railway now has a division called Sala Blu for the handicap. It is an excellent service. All you have to do is write to the appropriate section, refer to this listing for email addresses: (http://www.rfi.it/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=678e1096ddf1f210VgnVCM1000008916f90aRCRD)

Let them know when and where you want to travel and they will make the reservations. If regionale trains are available, they are considerably less expensive. The regionale trains can be booked after you arrive in Italy at any Sala Blu office. I think they require 48 hours notification. First class on the other trains is more pricey, but still reasonable. We already had our reservations from the Milan airport to Milano Central, Milano Central to Florence and Florence to Rome. We made the regional reservations in Milano Central for Rome to Civitavecchia and back to the Rome and the airport. Be sure to use Italian spelling for the respective cities when booking (Firenze = Florence; Roma = Rome).

 

 

With Sala Blu, you report to the Sala Blu office one-half hour early and they escort you to your train. If you require assistance, they used a lift for us. At a small station, like Civitavecchia, they did not have a Sala Blu office, however the worker came into the lobby looking for us because we had reservations. They even provide the reservations in their system for “coach” seating. On one train, the coach seating was a little cramped. Ruth parked in the designated area and I parked by the exit door.

 

 

There is also a listing of all the accessible stations if you look around on their website.

 

 

I would recommend that you take advantage of the train travel. It was pretty good and very reliable. An improvement over our last trip on some trains in Europe. We rode with anything and everything then.

 

 

Betty

[cberge]

I am sure this information will be helpful to people and than you for posting it.

[CathyCruises]

Excellent info--thanks for posting!