Milano Centrale railway station

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

Milano Centrale
Aerial view of the station building in 1964
Location
Address	Piazza Duca d'Aosta 20124 Milano
Comune	Milan
Province	Milan
Region	Lombardy
Country	Italy
Coordinates	45°29′10″N 9°12′13″E / 45.48611°N 9.20361°E / 45.48611; 9.20361Coordinates: 45°29′10″N 9°12′13″E / 45.48611°N 9.20361°E / 45.48611; 9.20361
Line(s)	Milan–Bologna (high-speed) Milan–Bologna (traditional) Milan–Turin (high-speed) Milan–Turin (traditional) Milan–Genoa Milan–Venice Milan–Chiasso (–Zürich) Milan–Domodossola (–Brig) Milan–Lecco
Other information
Opened	1 July 1931 (1931-07-01)
Architect	Ulisse Stacchini
Platforms	24
Owner	Rete Ferroviaria Italiana
Manager	Grandi Stazioni
Line operator(s)	Trenitalia, FERROVIENORD, SBB, Deutsche Bahn, SNCF, Renfe, OBB
Services
Connections
	Metropolitana di Milano
	ATM trams
	ATM buses and trolleybuses Airport buses
Location map
Milano Centrale railway station Milano Centrale railway station (Italy)

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 and Naples) 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 station

The first Milano Centrale railway station from Giornale dell'Ingegnere e Architetto, January 1865, vol. 13, Annex

The first Milano Centrale station opened in 1864 in the area now occupied by the Piazza della Repubblica. It was designed by the French architect Louis-Jules Bouchot (1817–1907) and its architectural style was reminiscent of Parisian buildings of that period. This station was designed to replace Porta Tosa station (opened in 1846 as the terminus on 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 it left.

Current station

The main ticket hall of the station

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 metres 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 facade is 200 metres wide and its vault 72 metres high, a record when it was built. It has 24 platforms. Each day about 330,000 passengers use the station, totalling 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.” ^[1]

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.^[2]

Services

Platforms

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. Trains connect to several European cites and many Italian long-distance and regional destinations. The station is also connected to Milan-Malpensa Airport.

Trenitalia · LeNORD · Malpensa Express

							Malpensa-Aeroporto
							Ferno-Lonate Pozzolo
							Busto Arsizio Nord
							Castellanza
							Rescaldina
							Saronno
							Milano Bovisa - Politecnico
	Milano Cadorna							Milano Porta Garibaldi
								Milano Centrale

Platforms

Trains to various destinations leave platforms as follows:

• Platforms 1-3: Chiasso/Domodossola/TGV Milan-Paris/Milan-Turin (ES* AV)
• Platforms 4-6: Turin/Cisalpino Milan–Como–Arth Goldau–Basel / Zurich
• Platforms 7-13: Venice / Udine
• Platforms 14-17: Bologna–Florence–Rome–Naples
• Platforms 18-23: Genoa-Livorno / Ventimiglia / Parma /Cremona-Mantua /Milan-Treviglio-Bergamo
• Platform 24: Operations

Preceding station		SNCF		Following station
Novara toward Paris-Lyon		TGV		Terminus

Gallery

• 

  Milan Central Station at night

• 

  ETR 500 at Milan Central Station

• 
• 

  The rear side

See also

• Stazione di Milano Centrale
• Railway stations in Milan
• Railway stations in Italy

References

1. ^ Touring Club Guida di Milano, p. 471
2. ^ "100mln Euros to requalify Milan Railway Central Station". AGI. 2006-09-25. Archived from the original on 2007-01-05. http://web.archive.org/web/20070105135338/http://www.agi.it/english/news.pl?doc=200609251652-1149-RT1-CRO-0-NF11&page=0&id=agionline-eng.oggitalia. Retrieved 2006-09-28. 

External links