Sorrento -> Rome Train Tips

[800Travel]

Hi,

Considering a trip around Italy which will involve a rail connection between Sorrento and Rome.

Tools like Traksy and Realtime Trains have been invaluable to helping me understand the UK rail network, but can’t find anything of similar detail for this route/network.

Any tips for useful tools, things to be aware of on the network, best seats etc. would be much appreciated please.

Thank you

 

[SeanG]

Use the cirvumvesiviana to Naples Central and then either Trenitalia's Freccia services or Italo up to Rome. I'd check the Man at Seat 61 website for more details

 

[30907]

Just to add, in case it's not obvious: the Circumvesuviana is the local inter-urban narrow-gauge rail network (significant parts now underground) which uses Porte Nolana Station in Naples, very close to the FS Centrale station.

For the Naples-Rome section, the line via Latina used by slower trains has a coastal section, so getting a seat on the LH side in that direction is marginally worth it.

 

[nwales58]

also, if booking on the day and the Frecce are expensive, for about EUR 14 there are near-hourly Regionale taking 2h45 rather than 1h10.

If travelling around means spending more than Eur30 on regional trains look at the Italian in Tour multi-day tickets.

 

[AnyFile]

You can find the timetable from Sorrento to Napoli on this page
timetable of railway lines
Direct link to the pdf: https://www.eavsrl.it/web/sites/default/files/ORARI NAPOLI SORRENTO_dal 2 Ottobre 2023_0.pdf

Or you can use this tools Online journey planner
The same site redirect to a different website for the fares.
According to Unico Campania
for a single journey from Sorrento to Napoli you need to pay the fare NA5
For a single journey using only the railway you need the "Corsa semplice" (standard one way ticket). It costs 4.60 eur
For a single journey using one or more buses and the train you need a "biglietto orario". This is a ticket with comprehensive ("Integrato") validity on both the bus network and the train network. This ticket costs 5.80 eur. For this fare it is valid 180 minutes (3 hours)

 

[800Travel]

Thanks all, really helpful to know

Does anyone know of a way to avoid Circumvesuviana on the routing please? Just put it into google, and the telegraph is suggesting it is in very bad shape (leaking roofs, graffiti everywhere, targeted by vandals etc.).

Guessing there is nothing like Traksy for Italy in terms of real time signalling maps?

 

[nwales58]

On the subject of Unico Campania, don't bother trying to use the app for tickets. Creating an account involves receiving an SMS that never arrives, to my UK mobile at least. For journey planning the app and web site bus times may or may not match reality and journeys involving Trenitalia shows the fastest ignoring that you would seldom use a Frecce for Naples-Salerno.

The most important URL in Italy is:

Scioperi - mit2

scioperi.mit.gov.it

Eg EAV has a 4 hour strike on the morning of 30/05 (I managed to land in Naples in the middle of one of these last month)

 

[AnyFile]

To monitor the real time of a train you can use Viaggiatreno

However I am afraid it seems not to work for the Circumvesuviana

You can see Live Departures and Arrivals if you go to this page Orario Treni Eav S.r.l. - tleindicatori stazione

To see the departures from Sorrento to Naples, select

In the first line select L1 Napoli - Sorrento
In the second line write Sorrento
Press below the Partenza (Departure)[/url]

 

[nwales58]

Circumvesuviana is a genuinely southern Italian experience. To avoid it, poke around on Unco Campania for buses. Trenitalia have a less frequent service as far as Castellammare di Stabia.

Ferries Napoli-Sorrento are another option, at tourist prices.

By the way, if a search gives you the sita bus web site for Amalfi bus times, it has not been updated since about 2016. There is a tourist office site somewhere with current times. Or Unico Campania, the region's site ...

 

[eastwestdivide]

Does anyone know of a way to avoid Circumvesuviana on the routing please? Just put it into google, and the telegraph is suggesting it is in very bad shape (leaking roofs, graffiti everywhere, targeted by vandals etc.).

It’s worth experiencing - like a glorified ancient tram running at train speeds. It’s not the height of comfort, but having used it, I wouldn’t avoid it if it was the most convenient route for where I was going.

 

[SeanG]

Great views too.

If you are precious about using a normal person's mode of transport there is an hourly tourist train which has more modern stock and a much higher price. It only stops at the main tourist stations but doesn't take that much quicker

 

[AnyFile]

The tourist train are the ones that are marked "EXP" in red with the time in red in the pdf timetable I linked in my first post.

More info about the Campania express at this page Campania Express | EAV srl (there should be an English translation, but it does not work...)

You can buy the ticket online: Online Tickets System Touristic Train

 

[nw1]

You can find the timetable from Sorrento to Napoli on this page
timetable of railway lines
Direct link to the pdf: https://www.eavsrl.it/web/sites/default/files/ORARI NAPOLI SORRENTO_dal 2 Ottobre 2023_0.pdf

As an aside, I used the Circumvesuviana in 1985 on a school trip and the current timetable has changed compared to then. Services appear to make more stops south of Torre Annunziata, but are faster north thereof. In 1985 all Sorrento services stopped at Ercolano, for example (which we used to reach Herculaneum).

Most trains are class Direttissimo, while in 1985 there were slower Diretto and Accelerato trains, too.

A different pattern nowadays, as well. In 1985 it was based on a 20-min headway with gaps. So you might have got, for example, 0811, 0831, 0911, 0951, 1031, 1111, 1131 etc. Now it's a 36-min headway, I presume this is based on 5 departures for hour on a repeating cycle of three routes?

Which parts are underground now? I remember east of Vico Equense the railway has to tunnel under the mountains at times, but most was above ground.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 6 May 2024 ==

It’s worth experiencing - like a glorified ancient tram running at train speeds. It’s not the height of comfort, but having used it, I wouldn’t avoid it if it was the most convenient route for where I was going.

Do they still have the same stock that was used in 1985? (I have the feeling this has come up before, but can't remember if it was answered).

I recall the stock then was 3-car OHLE EMUs with a pointed front end, running usually in 6- or 9-car formations. Plastic seats, I think, but wasn't bothered. The stock seemed modern at the time, perhaps late 70s or very early 80s. Don't remember perceiving it as something to avoid, but again the stock was presumably quite new then.

Sorry to go on about reminiscences but this was my 2nd-ever experience of overseas railways (Caravelle DMUs in the Massif Central being the first, in 1983).

 

[eastwestdivide]

Do they still have the same stock that was used in 1985?

Some of it could be that old. Wikipedia lists the rolling stock, better explained in the Italian version.
Shots here from my visit in 2022. The interior is of an older type sinilar to that in the first pic. The newer looking type in the third pic was on one of those 'express' services:






I used Napoli Garibaldi rather than Nolana, as it's practically part of the Centrale station complex:

 

[nw1]

Some of it could be that old. Wikipedia lists the rolling stock, better explained in the Italian version.
Shots here from my visit in 2022. The interior is of an older type sinilar to that in the first pic. The newer looking type in the third pic was on one of those 'express' services:
View attachment 157699

View attachment 157701

View attachment 157700

I used Napoli Garibaldi rather than Nolana, as it's practically part of the Centrale station complex:
View attachment 157702

Thanks for those. The EMUs I remember didn't resemble either of those (the second one is too new, and the first too flat at the front) but the interior looks roughly like what I remember. At the time they had a purple-and-white livery.

We definitely used the terminus, though according to Wikipedia it was just "Napoli" in those days, which would explain why the name Porta Nolana doesn't sound very familiar.

 

[eastwestdivide]

Think there was a pic of an older one with a pointier nose on one of the wikipedia sites

 

[nw1]

From what I can make out from the Italian Wikipedia site, it looks like a batch of EMUs (FE 220) were introduced from 1971 to 1979, and that's probably what I used. There are pics of these with a fairly "pointy nose" and with a livery vaguely resembling what I remember, though more maroon than purple (it was a long time ago!)

These were then supplemented by a further batch around 1989-1993 (T21) which is the "flatter" one, and finally the "express" units came in around 2008-9.

I haven't translated the site but it looks to me (I don't know Italian but I can figure out the meaning of some of the words) like the FE220 units are still in service?

There is certainly a photo showing them from 2017, so they obviously lasted that long at the very least. Think about it, the oldest units are the same age as many of our own CIGs and VEPs.
In fact the 2017 photo brings back memories from 1985, such as the station design and style of the lighting. It could easily have still been the mid-80s!

Photo (Wikipedia): Circumvesuviana EMUs in 2017

EDIT:

On Timetable World one of the FS timetables (that of 1982) includes the Circumvesuviana routes. Timetables show a frequent service (1-2tph on the Sorrento route off-peak, more frequent in the peak) but completely non-clockface.
By 1985 the service on the Sorrento route at least had developed a rather simpler pattern, as noted above.

Also looks like in 1982 that the Direttissimo faster trains skipped Ercolano. By 1985 it was definitely a call for most or all of them.

 

[800Travel]

What is the best way to find platform information in advance of the arrival at Napoli centrale please? Got a tight connection

 

[rvdborgt]

What is the best way to find platform information in advance of the arrival at Napoli centrale please? Got a tight connection

Trenitalia app or Trenit! app (I like the latter one better).

 

[800Travel]

Trenitalia app or Trenit! app (I like the latter one better).

Thank you

 

[D6130]

Trenitalia app or Trenit! app (I like the latter one better).

....or Orario Treni.

 

[AnyFile]

If you are asking about a train departing from main line (a Trenitalia train) you can use the website viaggiatreno

Trenitalia - ViaggiaTreno

www.viaggiatreno.it

which gives you information about station (with live departures and arrivals) and real time train status and location (also with predicted delays and times of departure)

This website

Monitor Arrivi Partenze live

Avvertenze > in stazione i viaggiatori sono comunque invitati a prestare attenzione agli annunci sonori e visivi diffusi > le informazioni on line possono apparire con un ritardo fino a tre minuti ...

www.rfi.it

gives you an exact replica of the departure and arrival boards/screens at the station
I can not find an equivalent page in English.
To use it:
scroll down
select Parternze (departure)
in the box below 1. write part of of the name of the station.
Press the red button near there "Avvia ricerca" (start searching)

Click on the box below the 2. and select the station you want
Press the red button near there "Vai al monitor" (go to the monitor)

(note that you have to do all these steps even if you have written the full name)

Binario = Platform
Ritardo = Delay

You can also check the planned platform in the timetable

Quadri orario on line

Avvertenze Tutti i dati presentati nei "Quadri orario stazione per stazione" si riferiscono all'orario programmato, lo stesso riportato nei quadri murali in stazione. L'informazione su eventuali ...

www.rfi.it

This site gives you the list of all the trains leaving the station.

 

[800Travel]

....or Orario Treni.

If you are asking about a train departing from main line (a Trenitalia train) you can use the website viaggiatreno

Trenitalia - ViaggiaTreno

www.viaggiatreno.it

which gives you information about station (with live departures and arrivals) and real time train status and location (also with predicted delays and times of departure)

This website

Monitor Arrivi Partenze live

Avvertenze > in stazione i viaggiatori sono comunque invitati a prestare attenzione agli annunci sonori e visivi diffusi > le informazioni on line possono apparire con un ritardo fino a tre minuti ...

www.rfi.it

gives you an exact replica of the departure and arrival boards/screens at the station
I can not find an equivalent page in English.
To use it:
scroll down
select Parternze (departure)
in the box below 1. write part of of the name of the station.
Press the red button near there "Avvia ricerca" (start searching)

Click on the box below the 2. and select the station you want
Press the red button near there "Vai al monitor" (go to the monitor)

(note that you have to do all these steps even if you have written the full name)

Binario = Platform
Ritardo = Delay

You can also check the planned platform in the timetable

Quadri orario on line

Avvertenze Tutti i dati presentati nei "Quadri orario stazione per stazione" si riferiscono all'orario programmato, lo stesso riportato nei quadri murali in stazione. L'informazione su eventuali ...

www.rfi.it

This site gives you the list of all the trains leaving the station.

Thanks both, this is really helpful

@AnyFile for the train in my screenshot (11:55 FrecciaRossa to Roma Termini), does it mean the train's diagram starts at Napoli Centrale and terminates at Milano Centrale please?

 

[nwales58]

If tight at Napoli Centrale, be prepared for a manned barrier check.

The barrier for long distance was in the centre (it's a wide concourse) when I was there last month. From Garibaldi you enter at the south end so carry on past some platforms before finding the manned bit on the right.

Have your ticket/code ready before you get to the concourse.

 

[800Travel]

If tight at Napoli Centrale, be prepared for a manned barrier check.

The barrier for long distance was in the centre (it's a wide concourse) when I was there last month. From Garibaldi you enter at the south end so carry on past some platforms before finding the manned bit on the right.

Have your ticket/code ready before you get to the concourse.

Thank you - this is good to know

 

[30907]

...11:55 FrecciaRossa to Roma Termini), does it mean the train's diagram starts at Napoli Centrale and terminates at Milano Centrale please?
View attachment 158854

The service starts at Naples and terminates at Milan.

(Pedant mode: diagram usually means a whole day's work, or even several days', for a particular train/loco. Exit pedant mode )

 

[92002]

Thanks all, really helpful to know

Does anyone know of a way to avoid Circumvesuviana on the routing please? Just put it into google, and the telegraph is suggesting it is in very bad shape (leaking roofs, graffiti everywhere, targeted by vandals etc.).

Guessing there is nothing like Traksy for Italy in terms of real time signalling maps?

The real way to avoid the Circumvesuviana from Sorrento is to take the fast ferry from Sorrento to Naples, then the Metro to Centralem

 

[AnyFile]

@AnyFile for the train in my screenshot (11:55 FrecciaRossa to Roma Termini), does it mean the train's diagram starts at Napoli Centrale and terminates at Milano Centrale please?

It is a direct service to Milano Centrale.
It will stop at Napoli Afrogola, Roma Centrale and Milano Rogoredo only (as well as Milano Centrale). It will not stop at Firenze and Bologna.

Depending about your final destination you may consider to get off at Milano Rogoredo (but there is the chance that you have todo some stairs there. It is a long time since I have been there and I am not sure if there are lifts at all the platforms)

NON CIRCOLA NEI GIORNI FESTIVI E PREFESTIVI

It runs everyday except on holiday and the day before. (which means it does not run on Saturday, Sunday, on bank holiday and the day before)

If you go to viaggiatreno you can see the real time status and position of the train

Trenitalia - ViaggiaTreno

www.viaggiatreno.it

If you click on
Train - Station

Then if you insert "Napoli centrale" you get real time departure and arrival boards

If you insert 9636 (the reporting number of your train) you get real time information for your train (including planned and real(*) platform)

I suppose, English is not my first language, that actual platform would be a better translation

And "Orientation: Executive in the head" the coach with Executive class (the most expensive of the 4 options) is at the front part of the train.

Your train will reverse in Roma Termini, but not in Florence (it does not go to Firenze Santa Maria Novella, but it goes straight using a chord)

If you click on the name of the stops you can see the connecting trains at that stop.

I do not think you can find a map like the one on Traksy. It is already difficult to find a static official map (made by Trenitalia or RFI or Ferrovie dello Stato)

To get very detailed information about the railway line (including map) you can have a look at
Fascicoli circolazione Linee (FCL) and and Fascicoli di Linee (FL)

This is probably too much detailed, but I can not find anything else straightaway

For the part in Lombardy you can look at FCL 021 and FL 32
(FCL 021 is a generic document for all the sector near Milan, and FL 32 is specific to the rail line between Milano and Tortona)

To get them go to

Donet - Circolari Territoriali e Fascicoli Circolazione Linee 5.0.14

On the right press "Milano (21-40)"
the on the new page press the Adobe acrobat symbol or the download symbol corresponding to the FCL 021 and the FL 32

 

[800Travel]

It is a direct service to Milano Centrale.
It will stop at Napoli Afrogola, Roma Centrale and Milano Rogoredo only (as well as Milano Centrale). It will not stop at Firenze and Bologna.

Depending about your final destination you may consider to get off at Milano Rogoredo (but there is the chance that you have todo some stairs there. It is a long time since I have been there and I am not sure if there are lifts at all the platforms)



It runs everyday except on holiday and the day before. (which means it does not run on Saturday, Sunday, on bank holiday and the day before)

If you go to viaggiatreno you can see the real time status and position of the train

Trenitalia - ViaggiaTreno

www.viaggiatreno.it

If you click on
Train - Station

Then if you insert "Napoli centrale" you get real time departure and arrival boards

If you insert 9636 (the reporting number of your train) you get real time information for your train (including planned and real(*) platform)

I suppose, English is not my first language, that actual platform would be a better translation

And "Orientation: Executive in the head" the coach with Executive class (the most expensive of the 4 options) is at the front part of the train.

Your train will reverse in Roma Termini, but not in Florence (it does not go to Firenze Santa Maria Novella, but it goes straight using a chord)

If you click on the name of the stops you can see the connecting trains at that stop.

I do not think you can find a map like the one on Traksy. It is already difficult to find a static official map (made by Trenitalia or RFI or Ferrovie dello Stato)

To get very detailed information about the railway line (including map) you can have a look at
Fascicoli circolazione Linee (FCL) and and Fascicoli di Linee (FL)

This is probably too much detailed, but I can not find anything else straightaway

For the part in Lombardy you can look at FCL 021 and FL 32
(FCL 021 is a generic document for all the sector near Milan, and FL 32 is specific to the rail line between Milano and Tortona)

To get them go to

Donet - Circolari Territoriali e Fascicoli Circolazione Linee 5.0.14

On the right press "Milano (21-40)"
the on the new page press the Adobe acrobat symbol or the download symbol corresponding to the FCL 021 and the FL 32

Thank you @AnyFile - really appreciate it.