ITALY was brought to a standstill on Thursday by a major train strike, with cancellations affecting even high-speed lines that are usually guaranteed during Italy’s work stoppages.

The country’s main unions called for the strike of Trenitalia and Italo workers, complaining about staffing shortages and excessive overtime, minimum salaries and other poor conditions.

A statement from the UIL union said: “In general there’s a need to restart a serious and constructive confrontation within the rail transport sector to concretely improve work conditions and make them responsive to the needs of all the personnel.”

Transport Minister Matteo Salvini signed a decree ordering the two-day strike be cut in half, but even that truncated stoppage forced the cancellation of services at the height of Italy’s booming high tourist season.

Mr Salvini promised to facilitate a meeting between companies and unions “to give satisfaction to Italian railway workers, without, however, stranding hundreds of thousands of Italians who bear no blame.”

At Milan’s main rail station, eight of 20 scheduled Trenitalia trains scheduled between 10.30-11.30am were cancelled.

State-run Trenitalia warned of the likelihood of a “significant impact” on services that would involve the partial or total cancellation of services even after the official end of the strike.