In Rome, “cattle” trains: the daily odyssey of metro travellers

Dire has documented a typical day for commuters and tourists in the capital's stations

ROME – Trying to take the subway in Rome on any given day. For commuters, workers and tourists it has become a daily odyssey. And we are not talking about exceptional days like strike days, but the ordinary fight for a place on the subway for hundreds and hundreds of users in the Capital. Try getting on a subway train A, at rush hour, on any given weekday.

It will be almost impossible if you try to do it in one of the stations in the center of Rome, those traditionally more crowded due to the constant amount of tourism which, as the Jubilee approaches, becomes more imposing every day, almost an invasion for the ordinary citizens who live or work in the neighborhoods of the historic center or surrounding areas. One of the most stormed metro stations is Barberini, a few steps from one of the most iconic monuments in Rome, Trevi Fountain, as well as a nerve center for the many ‘travet’ who arrive there every day to then go to the buildings of politics and institutions, or the many shop assistants or employees in the bars, shops and restaurants in the center. When arriving or leaving the office it becomes an arduous task for hundreds of workers, mixed with huge flows of tourists, to take the subway on the first attempt. And sometimes not even on the second, third or fourth attempt. Under penalty of traveling squashed together like sardines like in real ‘cattle wagons’ (for the more daring who manage to squeeze in by pushing).

Waits on the platform could last up to half an hour, sometimes more. Proof of this are the images that the Dire agency recorded yesterday afternoon, around 6 pm, on the Barberini platform in the direction of Anagnina, which leads from the center to the Termini train station and towards the southern area of the capital, with a very high population density. After the passage of a good five meters, the platform remains full, it cannot empty due to the continuous arrivals of travelers and the waits of up to 5 minutes between one train and the next: decidedly too many 5 minutes for the subway of a large European capital. The people crowded there can’t get into the carriages that are already packed when the doors of the passing trains open.

Someone tries to find a way out and takes the train in the opposite direction, Battistini, and then goes back. It seems like the only solution to reach your destination in an almost tragicomic wild goose chase: you are at Barberini headed to Anagnina and instead you get on a train headed for Battistini and then get off at one of the less crowded stations and thus be able to access a ride to Anagnina again. Many users make more than one attempt when the trains pass. For many, they remain in vain.

THE TAXI QUESTION

People crowd, mass, push, sometimes the doors can’t even close because the carriages are so full of human bodies. Coming down the escalators, some talk about the impossibility of easily finding a taxi as an alternative. “There are no taxis in Rome,” says a true Roman. In all this, the loudspeakers occasionally broadcast a recorded voice warning users: “Due to the possible presence of pickpockets, customers are asked to pay the utmost attention to their personal belongings on the platform and on board the trains.” Travelers clutch their bags even tighter and huff and puff, tired of the long wait and the chaos. Someone, speaking out loud, wonders whether, in view of the Jubilee, it will be sustainable to live through such an odyssey every day to get around Rome by public transport.