Covid-free train, starting after Easter on the Rome-Milan. Here’s how it works

Covid-free trains leave. You can go up only after having done a negative swab, or a molecular test always with negative results. The initiative is by the State Railways. The first experimental trains will leave in the days after Easter, therefore after April 4, they will be Frecciarossa on the Roma Termini-Milano Centrale route, without stops. For the summer the service should be extended to other destinations, said the managing director of FS, Gianfranco Battisti.

A couple of trains a day

It will start _ around mid-April, the date is not yet fixed _ with a couple of trains per day. That is, one in the morning from Roma Termini to Milan and one from Milano Centrale to Rome in the late afternoon. The procedure is similar to that of Covid tested flights, also known as Covid free, tested starting from 16 September 2020 on the initiative of Aeroporti di Roma, on the Rome-Milan route, then extended, from December, to intercontinental flights on the routes from Rome Fiumicino in New York (with Alitalia) and Atlanta (with Delta). Recently they have also been extended to flights from New York to Malpensa (Delta). Currently between Rome and Milan there are 22 pairs of trains per day.

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You go up only with a certificate of negativity at Covid

Only those who present a certificate of negativity to a Covid test done within 48 hours before departure can board these trains. The passenger may have had a molecular test or a quick antigen swab in a facility of their choice, otherwise they can have a quick swab at the station, Termini or Milano Centrale. In any case, you must arrive 50 minutes before the train departs. Screening hubs will be set up in the two stations, based on an agreement between the Railways and the Italian Red Cross. Anyone who has been vaccinated must also get tested.

The swab is done in front of the station

The screening centers will be set up with marquees. In Rome in Piazza dei Cinquecento it will be on the corner with the remains of the Servian Walls. The remains of the walls are in the square on the northern side, in front of the former Palazzo delle Poste of Termini Station, today the Hotel NH Collection. In Milan it will be on the street level of Piazza Duca d’Aosta, near the entrance to the subway. These centers will also be used to swab the entire population, but there will be a preferential lane for those who have to take the train.

Round trip with the same certificate

The train timetable in the first experimental phase allows you to go from Rome and Milan and return within the day with the Covid-free train. On the other hand, those who go from Milan to Rome, if they want to travel only on Covid-free trains also for the return, must stay overnight in the capital. It is not necessary to repeat the swab, before returning, if you have taken the test at the departure station or if you still have a valid certificate, because the test was done 48 hours before the departure time of the return train.