A great story in the Corriere della Sera newspaper this week.

Following passenger complaints about arriving at their destination infested with insect bites,  Trenitalia (the Italian railways group) has introduced a series of “anti-tick” measures to improve the hygiene on train carriages.

Blaming the bug problem on pets, Trenitalia has announced that from October 1, passengers will no longer be able to travel with large or medium-sized dogs – defined as weighing six kilograms or more.

Small dogs, cats, rabbits and all other domestic animals, will have to travel in portable cages, as well as carry certification from a vet, documenting the absence of “infestations or transmissible diseases”.
In a bureaucratic masterstroke, fish will be exempt from the new rules! 

No word though on requirements for passengers to improve their own personal hygiene!

The obvious questions here though, are

• How does the standard of hygiene on italian trains measure up? 

• Is there a systemic cause for this poor hygiene (dirty pets aside!)?

A recent report published by Il Corriere Della Sera states that the problem extends across both Eurostar and regional trains, with over 400 documented complaints of dirty seats, headrests, out-of-order bathrooms, malfunctioning heating and air conditioning systems.
Follow down this page for a gallery of photos - Il degrado alla Centrale di Milano

A possible cause? The report cites the inefficiency of the current regime of sub-contracted cleaning services - Trentalia estimates that it will cost 200 million euros to review the mandated hourly cleaning requirements and the effectiveness of all current contracts.

Seems to me that restricting animal passengers to cages will not solve systemic problems with broken facilities and ineffective sub-contractors.