Two buffaloes escaped from the herd, a regional train with 450 people on board, and a strategic railway line blocked since dawn. This was enough, on Monday 3 August, to send the conventional Rome-Florence line into a tailspin.
What happened
The train derailed around 5.10am about one kilometer from Piana Bella station, in the municipality of Montelibretti, about sixty kilometers from Rome. The first two carriages of the convoy went off the tracks after the impact with the animals, as FS Gruppo announced in a note reported by ANSA. The initial information spoke generically of “large animals”, only later did we learn that they were two buffaloes that had strayed from their herd. At the moment, there is no trace of the owners, with all the checks on the case still underway.
The intervention of the emergency services
At 5.50 am the operations room of the Rome Fire Brigade sent the VF 5/A team to the scene. The same body confirmed it with a post on
@Fire Brigade /
The main task was not so much to manage an emergency as to secure the transfer of travellers, who were stranded on the damaged convoy. No one was injured, neither among the passengers nor among the on-board staff. RFI technicians, Trenitalia and FS Security personnel also intervened on site, as well as the police, called to guard the area.
The inconveniences on the line
RFI suspended traffic on the Orte-Roma between Monterotondo and Fara Sabina starting from 5.10 am, as reported by the official Trenitalia website. The note talks about delays, route changes and cancellations for Intercity and Regional trains, with a replacement bus service activated between the two stations. The Railways also arranged for the dispatch of a second convoy to complete the transfer of passengers, who then continued their journey towards Rome Tiburtina. There is damage to both the infrastructure and the train, it will now be the task of the RFI technicians to establish how long it will take to completely restore the line.
