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My situation is:

  1. I am travelling from Vicenza to Milano via high-speed Italo train. The train departs at 9:45 and arrives at Milano at 11:26.
  2. In Milano I want to board Trenitalia train to La Spezia which departs at 12:10.

This will happen on Monday.

From my experience, high-speed trains in Italy are likely to be delayed. I've already been riding an Italo train, that got delayed for 40 minutes (because of traffic jam on high-speed line, as I've heard from announcement) This was in Friday. Right now I've boarded a train that got delayed for 10 minutes, it's Saturday.

My question is: will I be on time at Milano for changing trains on Monday or should I not even consider doing this?

Bonus question: do this high-speed delays have something to do with Ferragosto holiday (which recently was in Italy) or just weekend?

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    Last Friday (August 16) Trenitalia canceled 23 trains in the region around La Spezia due to missing personnel, so you may have experienced unusually long delays because of that. The official statements say that it has nothing to do with Ferragosto, but I find that hard to believe. Aug 18, 2019 at 22:21
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    Personally I would find a 40 minute connection with Trenitalia perfectly fine in normal conditions, but as always the question is: what will happen if I don't make it? If you are only going to miss a few hours at the seaside it's perfectly fine (also considering that there are plenty of other connections on the same day), but if you have an intercontinental flight or a cruise ship to board, or a wedding to attend, then it's better to be on the safe side. Aug 18, 2019 at 22:33
  • I didn't have any serious events to attend to, just wanted to plan my time efficiently. Thank you anyway. Aug 26, 2019 at 10:57

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40 minutes to change trains should be more than enough since all you have to do is move from one platform to the other within the same station - Italo and Trenitalia trains both arrive in the same station i.e. Milano Centrale. However, any delay will obviously impact your ability to make it. Unfortunately, since you are using two different companies, I do not think that Trenitalia will guarantee you an onward journey of you miss your train due to a delay on an Italo journey. Indeed you have two separate transport contracts here and no obligation from either company to fulfill the other company's obligations.

Your best bet is to travel both legs with the same operator and get the most flexible ticket fare possible so that you can easily change the ticket even after departure.

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    If you buy your Trenitalia ticket online with the Base fare (the regular one without discounts), you may change your ticket online unlimited times before departure. Or, even better, you can wait to buy it until you are sure you'll make it to Milan in time. Aug 18, 2019 at 22:27
  • I just comment to point out the benefit of privatisation :)
    – Alchimista
    Nov 12, 2019 at 10:56

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