Train strike: who called it and for what reasons
As the 24-hour walkout gets underway, the organisations behind it emerge — CUB Trasporti, SGB, CAT and the national PdM/PdB Assembly of the FSI Group — along with the three reasons for the mobilisation: renewal of the expiring contract, recognition of hazardous/strenuous work, opposition to the tender splitting Intercity services into three lots.
The information that was missing yesterday is available today: the national railway strike was called by the grassroots unions CUB Trasporti, SGB and CAT together with the national Assembly of train drivers and on-board staff of the FSI Group, according to the proclamation published by CUB and reports from Sky TG24 and Fanpage. When we wrote about this on 6 September, only the travel-information notices were available: timetables and companies involved. The organisations and their reasons were not yet known.
CUB Trasporti and SGB Ferrovie have called a 23-hour-59-minute walkout, within a state of agitation renewed on 9 April 2026. The overall window confirmed by the notices remains the one already published: from 21:18 on Monday 7 to 21:00 on Tuesday 8 September, involving Gruppo FS, Trenitalia, Trenitalia Tper, Trenord and Italo, as also reported by Virgilio Notizie based on company notices. In Piedmont, an additional walkout by ORSA Ferrovie has been added for Trenitalia staff in the CSVD customer operations division, with the same hours.
The demands are three, and all concern the contractual framework. The first is the renewal of the national contract, due to expire at the end of the year. The second is recognition of strenuous work for mobile staff, with guarantees on rest periods, holidays and work-life balance: CUB Trasporti and SGB are calling for “real guarantees on rest, holidays, meal breaks and a genuine work-life balance”. The third concerns industrial policy: the unions are contesting the division of the Intercity service into three lots to be put out to tender and, according to their proclamation, the rejection in the Chamber of Deputies of the social clause that was meant to accompany that shift.
The detail that best explains the geography of the protest is the exclusion contained in the Trenitalia notice: mobile staff of the Regional service of the Provincial Directorates of Trento and Bolzano are not taking part in the national strike. In Trentino-Alto Adige the mobilisation exists, but under different terms: a separate 8-hour strike, from 09:01 to 17:00 on Monday 7 September, for the same mobile staff in Trento and Bolzano.
On the question of effects, the company notices specify how the Lombardy service will behave: according to MilanoToday, Trenord will run Monday evening trains departing by 21:18 and arriving by 22:18, while on Tuesday 8 only guaranteed minimum services will be active, with replacement buses on airport connections. Milan’s ATM staff are not joining: underground, buses and trams will continue to operate normally, a factor that limits the impact on urban transport in the city most exposed to commuter flows.
On one point, this edition is not publishing figures: the quantification of cancelled services is not among the data that could be verified at the time of publication. Those who need to travel can find the list of guaranteed connections on Trenitalia’s guaranteed trains page, which is the part of the service the company states it will maintain during the walkout.
The calendar that matters now is the contractual one: the reference national contract expires at the end of 2026.
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