Crammed like sardines on the train to Turin The case of Ivrea breaks out

IVREA It is one thing to tell about crowded trains, another is to see an eloquent image that does not calm down in these times of Covid. The photo was taken on Wednesday morning on the 7.42 Ivrea-Turin train. The author of the shot, shot that ended up re-proposing the problem of overcrowding on public transport that everyone expected but perhaps not so soon, was the Ivrea city councilor Andrea Benedino, one who takes the train to Turin all the mornings to go to work. Full seats, people standing, crowded corridors. To schools still closed, on the other hand. And peace if the spacing remains one of the obligations in force together with the mask indoors. RFI has made it known that it has simply applied the legislation (capacity at 80%), according to which the train was not even at maximum load. But the commuters have risen, and the subject will be submitted to the Government of the Region through question time of the democrat Alberto Avetta. We are talking about one of the bimodal trains in the Aosta Valley, the red trains less capacious than the traditional ones and incompatible with the addition of other wagons. «Piedmont cannot pretend nothing has happened and tolerate that our citizens travel in similar conditions – said Avetta – the Region opens a dialogue with the leaders of the Aosta Valley. It is unacceptable that, in the era of the Green Pass, local public transport is a black hole, where the rules are not valid and users are exposed to obvious risks ». Just a few days ago, Benedino had said so. «Everything as expected – he wrote Wednesday morning on social media – this morning the Ivrea-Turin train at 7.42 am traveled with all the seats occupied and the passengers standing occupying the corridors, crammed like canned sardines. Nor have high schools and universities reopened yet. And this is because we insist on using the red trains of the Valle d’Aosta Region on this line even during peak hours, which are also pretty, but unfortunately they are small and not very capacious ». Adding: “I understand the discomfort of travelers from Valle d’Aosta who should change trains in Ivrea, but I think that in times of pandemic it is better to take this discomfort into account than the risks of a journey in these conditions”. For Rfi, however, nothing abnormal happened the other morning on the train to Turin: “The capacity of the train – he said – can reach 80% of passengers, occupying all the seats plus a good part standing “. This as per legislation. It should also be noted that “the train in question, despite being able to accommodate up to 263 passengers, recorded a maximum load of 134 passengers”. In short, it could have been worse. S.B.