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The
train network in Italy, it must be said, is excellent, despite
what the Italians say! Good funding over the last 50 years
is to thank for this (even though very recently it does
seem to be suffering slightly), and as a result it is used
very heavily - often to travel the while lenght and breadth
of italy. Very comon is the long trip made by southerners
working in Milan back home - and the return trip. This line
does pass through Le Marche stopping in Ancona - main station.
The
trains are also very reasonably priced - with an hours journey
costing around 8 Euros (5 pounds).
Tickets
are to be stamped by the passenger (to validate them), in
yellow machines situated on the platforms - failure to do
so means your ticket is invalid and you may be charged,
and Italians are very conscientous about doing this and
train guards have a reputation for being very unforgiving
but I must say my experiences have all been good.
The
down side to the trains popularity is inevitably that they
are very busy - queing for tickets almost always takes hours,
especially in the larger stations. also be warned the queues
in Italy are very much a "survival of the fittest affair"
in which the customery lines you may see in northern europe
are more comparable to rugby scrums.
I
will put links to the main train websites shortly...
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