The Commuters’ Committees protest, “Trenord comes too late”.

The Commuters’ Committee of the Lombard lines protested all together. And they did that in the middle of one of the Milan main stations, Porta Garibaldi, to make visible their problem.

The appointment was announced a week ago, the committees met at 6 p.m., the time when commuters hasten home. There were about fifty people, representatives of the various lines, from those of the Varese area to the Treviglio-Brescia line, from the Milan-Mortara to the various lines of the Ferrovie Nord that end up at Saronno.

The mobilization came, by chance, right on the day in which the regional council of Attilio Fontana had announced the intention to introduce a voucher for those who travel by car; a choice that roused commuters’ dispute that use trains every day.

“The slogan of the day was: “It’s always too late”. Too late to resolve the problems we experience every day: suppressions because of the lack of staff, malfunctions of the too old equipment, delays in the purchase of new trains, which are always slower than the needs of a Region that moves 750 thousand people per day,” explained Stefano Marchionna, member of the Gallarate-Milan line Committee.

 

Just today, Trenord has showed the intervention plan for the next months: investments on rolling stock (425 million, in particular with the revamping of seven hundred hired carriages from Trenitalia, which are sometimes older than 30 years or more), but also on  staff, to “plug” the holes that the system had during these months.

There are also protests from who use the “FNM branch”, which has more modern trains: “Our lines have more new materials, there are less breakdowns also on the infrastructure” Andrea Mazzucotelli said, member of the commuter group of lines of Saronno railway junction. Which are the problems? He talks about safety (which came to the fore due to aggressions towards staff, two only last week.) And then “the overcrowding, both on working days and during the holiday, because there are less trains and people use them anyway.” The service for the whole day and also on holiday is a feature of the model of Lombardy (in other regions, travelling out of commuter times and main lines is often hard.) A model which has been maintained until now, but with increasing difficulties, as commuters –again- pointed out.