Italy's rail network faces more disruption after maintenance worker killed

Italian rail services were disrupted again early on Friday after a maintenance worker was killed in a train accident, rail track group Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI) said.

Five track maintenance workers were killed last year near Turin in a similar night time incident and Italian trains had already suffered severe delays on Wednesday due to a technical failure that paralysed Rome's two main stations.

Connections between the northern Italian cities of Bologna and Venice were halted at 4:30 am (0230 GMT) after the worker was hit by a train just north of Bologna, a statement said.

The man worked for a subcontractor, RFI said, adding that it was cooperating with official investigations. RFI is part of Italy's state-owned railway operator Ferrovie dello Stato.

At around 8 am rail traffic was gradually returning to normal levels, RFI said, but high-speed trains had delays of up to 80 minutes and 14 local trains had been cancelled.

This article was produced by Reuters news agency. It has not been edited by Global South World.

By Reuters