On Monday, 7 September 2026, at 21:18, a 24-hour rail strikebegins in Italy. Until Tuesday evening at 21:00, trains operated by Trenitalia, Italo and Trenord will come to a standstill across Italy, as will Trenitalia Tper services in Emilia-Romagna. The Frecce high-speed trains on the Alta Velocità route between Turin, Milan, Bologna, Florence, Rome, Naples and Salerno are also affected. For travellers, this means two days of considerable disruption, particularly during the night hours between Monday and Tuesday and throughout Tuesday itself.
All national rail operators are taking part
The strike affects the entire Italian rail network. Those involved include Gruppo FS Italiane, the state-owned conglomerate and parent of Trenitalia, as well as the private high-speed operator Italo, the Lombardy regional rail company Trenord and Trenitalia Tper in Emilia-Romagna. The action has been called by several trade unions acting in parallel, among them CUB Trasporti, SGB, ORSA Ferrovie and the Assemblea nazionale del Personale di Macchina e di Bordo, which accounts for the broad participation of staff.
Trenitalia has published a list of trains guaranteed to run during the strike . All other services may be cancelled, diverted or delayed. According to the unions, the background to the action involves negotiations over pay, shift arrangements, workload and safety standards. Trenitalia advises travellers to check their train for cancellations in good time and to plan an alternative for any critical connections.
Fasce di garanzia: the protected time windows
As with every major rail strike in Italy, legally prescribed guaranteed time windowsapply on 7 and 8 September as well. On working days, the fasce di garanzia between 06:00 and 09:00 and between 18:00 and 21:00 ensure a basic level of regional train services. During these windows, trains designated as "servizi essenziali" run to schedule, particularly for commuter services around the urban areas of Milan, Rome, Turin, Naples and Bologna.
For long-distance and Alta Velocità trains , each operator publishes its own list of guaranteed services. The current lists for Trenitalia, Italo and Trenord in Lombardy can be found on the respective companies' websites. Anyone who must travel on the day of the strike is advised to check their individual connection there. For Italo, the strike ends one minute earlier than for the other operators, at 21:17. The greatest disruption is to be expected on Tuesday, as the strike applies throughout the entire day.
Additional regional strikes in Piemonte and South Tyrol
Running in parallel with the national rail strike, several regional actions are also under way. In Piemonte and Trentino-Alto Adige, train staff are already striking at regional level during the afternoon on Monday; in South Tyrol, public local transport is also walking out. For travellers, this means that disruption to buses and regional trains in these areas is to be expected from Monday afternoon onwards, not only from the start of the national strike in the evening.
The Ministero delle Infrastrutture e dei Trasporti (MIT) maintains an official register of planned strikes in September 2026, listing all sectors, regions and times involved. In addition to the rail strike on 7 and 8 September, the calendar for the remainder of the month includes further strikes in local public transport on 15 September, in the aviation sector on 13 and 30 September, and a 24-hour general strike on 26 September. Anyone travelling by train in Italy during September is advised to keep a close eye on this calendar.
Refunds and rebooking in the event of cancellation
In the event of a strike-related train cancellation, travellers in Italy are entitled to a full refund of the ticket price. Trenitalia, Italo and Trenord each provide online forms for this purpose, where the ticket code is entered and the refund is processed to the original payment method within a few working days. Alternatively, a free rebooking onto another train is possible, generally up to four hours before the original departure.
It is important to distinguish between an actual cancellation and a delay: only an officially confirmed cancellation entitles the passenger to an automatic refund. In the case of delays, the standard passenger rightsapply, which provide for a proportional refund depending on the length of the delay. Travellers who are reliant on their train are advised in all cases to check the status via the relevant operator's app or website before setting off, and, in the event of a cancellation, to switch to a train running within the fascia di garanzia.
