Italy rail asks authorities to investigate outages behind train delays

ROME — Italy’s national railroad filed a formal complaint with law enforcement authorities Wednesday alleging that power outages up and down the peninsula that have caused days of train delays were suspicious.

“It can’t be a coincidence” that the outages have occurred during peak times on lines out of Rome, Milan and elsewhere, said Ferrovia dello Stato, which runs the Trenitalia system. It didn't explicitly allege sabotage but in a statement said, "The type of failures and their frequency are raising more than a few questions.”

Luca Ciriani, minister for relations with parliament, acknowledged the inconveniences but said the problems weren’t chronic and that the recent delays were not exceptional. He pledged the government’s commitment to improving the rail service using European Union funds.

The chaos on Italy’s rail system has become a political headache for Transport Minister Matteo Salvini, with the opposition lawmakers accusing him of neglecting his job to angle for other, higher profile ministries.

In demanding Salvini refer to parliament about the delays, the 5-Star Movement on Wednesday noted Salvini’s tweet on Tuesday about his meeting with a visiting Israeli foreign minister, Gideon Saar.