Milano Centrale railway station

For the district of Milan, see Stazione di Milano Centrale.
Milano Centrale

Station façade
Location Piazza Duca d'Aosta
20124 Milan
Italy
Coordinates 45°29′10″N 09°12′13″E / 45.48611°N 9.20361°E / 45.48611; 9.20361Coordinates: 45°29′10″N 09°12′13″E / 45.48611°N 9.20361°E / 45.48611; 9.20361
Owned by Rete Ferroviaria Italiana
Operated by Grandi Stazioni
Line(s)
Tracks 24
Connections
Construction
Architect Ulisse Stacchini
History
Opened 1 July 1931 (1931-07-01)
Electrified 1938 (1938)
Traffic
Passengers 120 million per year
Location
Milano Centrale
Location within Milan

Milano Centrale is the main railway station of Milan, Italy, and one of the main railway stations in Europe. The station is a railway terminus and was officially inaugurated in 1931 to replace the old central station (1864), which was a transit station and could not handle the new traffic caused by the opening of the Simplon tunnel in 1906.

It is served by high speed lines to Bologna (to Rome, Naples and Salerno) and Turin, and conventional railways to Bologna, Turin, Venice, Genoa, Domodossola (for the Simplon and Bern), Chiasso (for the Gotthard and Zürich Hauptbahnhof) and Lecco.

History

The first Milano Centrale railway station from Giornale dell'Ingegnere e Architetto, January 1865, vol. 13, Annex
A view of the arrival hall
The roof of the central section

The first Milano Centrale station opened in 1864 in the area now occupied by the Piazza della Repubblica.[1] It was designed by French architect Louis-Jules Bouchot (1817–1907) and its architectural style was reminiscent of Parisian buildings of that period. The station was designed to replace Porta Tosa station (opened in 1846 as the terminus of the line to Treviglio and eventually Venice) and Porta Nuova station (opened in 1850 as the second terminus on the line to Monza, which was eventually extended to Chiasso) and was interconnected with all lines, either existing or under construction, surrounding Milan. It remained in operation until 30 June 1931, when the current station was opened. There is now no trace of the old station left.

King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy laid the cornerstone of the new station on April 28, 1906, before a blueprint for the station had even been chosen. The last, real, contest for its construction was won in 1912 by architect Ulisse Stacchini, whose design was modeled after Union Station in Washington, DC, and the construction of the new station began.

Due to the Italian economic crisis during World War I, construction proceeded very slowly, and the project, rather simple at the beginning, kept changing and became more and more complex and majestic. This happened especially when Benito Mussolini became Prime Minister, and wanted the station to represent the power of the fascist regime. The major changes were the new platform types and the introduction of the great steel canopies by Alberto Fava; 341 m (1,119 ft) long and covering an area of 66,500 square metres.

Construction resumed in earnest in 1925 and on July 1, 1931 the station was officially opened in the presence of Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano.

Its façade is 200 metres wide and its vault is 72 metres high, a record when it was built. It has 24 platforms. Each day about 330,000 passengers use the station, totaling about 120 million per year.

The station has no definite architectural style, but is a blend of many different styles, especially Liberty and Art Deco, but not limited to those. It is adorned with numerous sculptures. “The ‘incongruous envelope of stone’ (Attilio Pracchi) of this gigantic and monumental building dominates Piazza Duca d’Aosta.” [2]

On September 25, 2006, officials announced a €100 million project, already in progress, to refurbish the station. Of the total cost, €20 million has been allocated to restore "certain areas of high artistic value" while the remaining €80 million will be used for more general improvements to the station to make it more functional with the current railway services. The project includes moving the ticket office and installing new elevators and escalators for increased accessibility.[3]

Train services

The station has 24 tracks. Every day about 320,000 passengers pass through the station using about 500 trains, for an annual total of 120 million passengers. The station is served by national and international routes, with both long-distance and regional lines. Daily international destinations include Bern, Lugano, Geneva, Zürich, Paris, Vienna, Barcelona and Munich.[4]

The station is also connected to Milan-Malpensa Airport through the Malpensa Express train service.

The following services call at the station (incomplete):

Domestic (High-speed)

Domestic

For Regional (Regio) trains to Monza and Como from Milano Centrale, refer to the 'cross-border' services. There is no train service of Milan Suburbano at the Centrale station.

Cross-border (Night train)

(CH for Switzerland, D for Germany, A for Austria, F for France, MN for Monaco)

^ Train connects at Verona to provide connections to Rome.

Cross-border

Service summary

Preceding station   Trenitalia   Following station
Frecciarossa
toward Salerno
TerminusFrecciarossa
Frecciabianca
TerminusFrecciabianca
toward Udine
TerminusFrecciabianca
toward Lecce
TerminusFrecciabianca
toward Taranto
toward Basel SBB
EuroCityTerminus
EuroCity
Thello
toward Venice
ThelloTerminus
TerminusIntercity Notte
toward Lecce
TerminusIntercity Notte
toward Lecce
Treno regionaleTerminus
Preceding station   Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori   Following station
Italo
toward Salerno
Preceding station   Trenord   Following station
Treno regionaleTerminus
Treno regionaleTerminus
TerminusTreno regionale
TerminusTreno regionale
toward Bergamo

Platforms

Each platform is usually dedicated to some particular route. The current organization is as follows, although temporary changes may occur.

Unusual track layout

On the northern side of the railway yard there used to be a loop curve so that trains could turn around and reverse back into the station. The trains could so be displaced from the left side of the station to the right side and vice versa without crossing all the tracks. The tracks on the loop curve are partially broken up.[5]

Gallery

See also

References

  1. ↑ see also Milano Repubblica railway station
  2. ↑ Touring Club Guida di Milano, p. 471
  3. ↑ "100mln Euros to requalify Milan Railway Central Station". AGI. 2006-09-25. Archived from the original on January 5, 2007. Retrieved 2006-09-28.
  4. ↑ "International Destinations". Ferrovie dello Stato. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
  5. ↑ Can easily be seen on Google Earth and most old maps

External links

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