ROME, Dec 16: Some 450 passengers spent most of the night in a broken-down train without heat in the midst of a cold snap in southern Italy, press reports said on Sunday.

The high-speed train was travelling from Lecce, deep in the south-eastern heel of Italy’s boot, en route to Rome when it broke down, turning the 500-kilometre journey into a 20-hour nightmare.

A woman and her five-month-old baby were hospitalised as a precaution, while public safety workers assisted other freezing passengers.

The train broke down after five hours just north of Naples.

Two locomotives despatched to tow or push the train turned out not to be equipped with compatible couplers. The passengers were transferred to another high-speed train, but it too broke down.

Finally, at around 4:30 am, the exhausted travellers boarded a regional train, which took another three hours to reach Rome.—AFP