More passengers with tickets in hand, already paid, than seats available in the carriage: an uproar broke out at the Olbia Terranova station, with knock-on consequences that caused disruption as far away as Cagliari. On a nightmare day, yet another, for rail (and also road) transport in Sardinia.
It all starts just after 2.10pm. The train arrives at the new station of the Gallura city, having already collected travelers in the previous one. There are about twenty passengers on the platform. Too many, because there are not enough seats on board: apparently there was only one wagon (with a few dozen years of life behind it and just as many graffiti on the livery), when generally the convoy is made up of at least two. Yet all those who are on the ground, and risk remaining there, have paid the ticket.
The tension rises when it becomes clear that the train driver wants to continue on his (railway) route, leaving numerous would-be passengers stranded. There are those who rant. Someone tries to open the handle. Another does more: a middle-aged man steps onto the tracks and stands in front of the locomotive to keep it from moving.
The intervention of the State Police is necessary: the officers can do nothing but identify the angry passenger. The train (fully loaded) leaves, about an hour late. Those who could, not having found a place, waited for the next one.
But it's not over. Because things change in Chilivani, you know. And this time the means of transport were changed: the convoy headed to Cagliari did not wait for the delayed one "attacked" in Terranova. So RFI made a bus available for the rest of the journey.
The chronicle of a difficult afternoon could end here. Except that the bus driver had already reached the daily limit of driving hours. And Oristano just didn't want to hear about going beyond it.
