Regional Trains in Italy

Hi Group,

I am travelling to Europe in July and I will stay in Trento and I wish
to goto Tirano. But from all the online train timetable systems I have
to travel all the way to Milano to get between the two cities.

Is there a local rail connection between Trento and Tirano or do I
really need to spend 6 hours travelling via Milan.

I will travel with a Euro rail pass.

Thanks

Stuart

wrote:

Is there a local rail connection between Trento and Tirano

No. *Maybe* the itinerary can be made with buses through the Tonale and
Aprica passes, but it would probably be still a long trip involving
transfers. This is a case in which a rental car should be handy (even
this way, it is a long and tiring drive).


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On Thu, 26 Jan 2006 wrote:

I am travelling to Europe in July and I will stay in Trento and I wish
to goto Tirano. But from all the online train timetable systems I have
to travel all the way to Milano to get between the two cities.

I wonder why you want to go just to Tirano, besides an old sanctuary
church there is nothing special there to see. Unless you want to take
the Rhetic railway to Bernina pass and into Switzerland, which is indeed
very nice.

Is there a local rail connection between Trento and Tirano or do I
really need to spend 6 hours travelling via Milan.

You should realize that there are huge mountains between them, and the
areas are relatively low populated, it has never been sensible to build
a direct railway line.

So the standard rail path will be indeed Trento to Verona (low Adige
valley, nice scenery), then Verona to Milan (flat plain, few sights on
south Garda lake). All this possible also via direct fast trains.

From Milan local trains to Lecco / Colico / Sondrio / Tirano. Most of
them direct, otherwise change in Sondrio required. Unimpressive from
Milan to Lecco, around eastern shore of lake Como from Lecco to Colico,
on the bottom of the Valtellina (a large valley) from Colico to Tirano.

Bear in mind that connections between italian trains and rhetic trains
in Tirano (although the two stations are just adjacent) is quite poor
with long waiting (at least in the direction Switzerland to Italy which
I did many times)

You could possibly "cut short" stopping at Brescia (on the Verona-Milano
line) then taking local trains to Bergamo and Lecco. Doubt you will save
time.

It is possible that you can get some bus connection with changes through
some mountain passes (hint: google search for "Trentino" and
"trasporti"), surely the scenery will be nice. I'm not so familiar with
those mountains and do not have a map with me, so I'm quoting by heart.

There are two secondary railways heading north-west, a private one from
Trento, and a state one from Bolzano/Bozen. It is possible that from
their termini you can cross either the Tonale or the Stelvio pass by
bus.

Stelvio is 2700 m high, it will lead you to Bormio in high Valtellina
(i.e. upstream of Tirano, you descend to get there).

Tonale will lead you near to Edolo or Pontedilegno in high Valcamonica,
from there you have to cross another pass (Aprica ?) to get into
Valtellina.

A crazy alternative (not just a transfer) ... go to Brescia, then take
the secondary railway line to Edolo. It will run along the coast of Iseo
lake (you could even take a ferry to Monte Isola, the largest lake
island in Italy) and then on the bottom of the Valcamonica valley. If
you stop at Capodiponte (but bear in mind that there is only very
limited spartan accomodation) you can visit the Parco Nazionale delle
Incisioni Rupestri (national park of rock engravings, which were made by
a pre-roman population some 2500 years ago or more). The next day you
could continue to Edolo as above.

Other alternatives, depending on where you plan to go, involve passing
through Austria. Either you go to Innsbruck and then take the Vorarlberg
line to Bregenz, then enter Switzerland in S.Margrethen and work your
way backwards (done although not in this order, all nice scenery), or
you make the Resia pass by bus. After a very short stretch in Austria
this will lead you in upper Engadin near to Scuol, a terminus of the
rhetic railway which can lead you back to S.Moritz, where the line from
Tirano-Bernina also gets.

Ask on misc.transport.rail.europe for other ideas.


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Is there a local rail connection between Trento and Tirano or do I
really need to spend 6 hours travelling via Milan.

It seems to be the fastest way.
Consider that from Trento it's easy to travel north-south in the Adige
valley. Instead, travelling east-west, you have to pass high mountains. For
example, Tonale pass (1800 m) is one of the highest and often close in
winter.

Anyway, you can take the train from Trento to Male' in Val di Sole. There,
take the bus to Tonale-Edolo. It takes two hours. Then there are several bus
from Edolo to Aprica-Tirano.
Here is one bus provider on that line:
SAB - Società Autoferrovie Bergamo
Piazzale Marconi, 4
24122 Bergamo (BG)
Tel: 035/289011
www.sab-autoservizi.it

It seems they just have one bus, starting 5:30 in the morning...

Ciao

On Thu, 26 Jan 2006, Giovanni wrote:

Anyway, you can take the train from Trento to Male' in Val di Sole. There,
take the bus to Tonale-Edolo. It takes two hours. Then there are several bus

Ah OK, that was the "private railway heading NW from Trento" I
mentioned, I forgot the name of the termini. I know it even has a web
site where you can follow where each train is in real time.

from Edolo to Aprica-Tirano.
Here is one bus provider on that line:
It seems they just have one bus, starting 5:30 in the morning...

Not surprising since Edolo is in the province of Brescia, and SAB is
from Bergamo. The line should be a special tourist line (they used to
have several, but most were cut down when SAB was bought by the British)
or a workers' line.

Since once at Edolo one is in Lombardy, one can however use the regional
bus line finder at http://www.infopoint.it/trl_index.htm to find
"regular" lines. Do not expect them to be too frequent in a mountain
area.

Choose Visualizza tutti gli orari (show all timetables)
then TUTTE LE LINEE CHE PASSANO DALLA FERMATA DI ... (all lines through
stop named ...)

You will find that bus line F29 (by Ferrovie Nord Milano, the same
running the Brescia-Edolo railway) goes up to Aprica (but no further).
There is a line A61 from Aprica to Tirano, and a more frequent A41 from
Aprica to Sondrio, both call at Tresenda which is the rail station down
in the valley serving Aprica, should be one stop from Tirano.

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