| Milano Centrale | |
| Address: | Piazza Duca d'Aosta 20124 Milan |
| Country: | Italy |
| Coordinates: | 45.4861°N 9.2036°W |
| Owned: | Rete Ferroviaria Italiana |
| Operator: | Grandi Stazioni |
| Tracks: | 24 |
| Zone: | STIBM Mi1[1] |
| Architect: | Ulisse Stacchini |
| Passengers: | 120 million per year |
| Iata: | XIK[2] |
| Map Type: | Italy Milan Central##Italy Lombardy#Italy North#Italy |
Milano Centrale (Italian: Stazione di Milano Centrale) is the main railway station of the city of Milan, Italy, and is the second busiest railway station in Italy for passenger flow[3] (after Roma Termini) and the largest railway station in Europe by volume.[4]
The station is a terminus and located at the northern end of central Milan. It was officially inaugurated in 1931 to replace the old central station (built 1864), which was a transit station that could not handle the increased traffic caused by the opening of the Simplon Tunnel in 1906 due to the old station's limited number of tracks and space.
Milano Centrale has high-speed connections to Turin in the west, Venice via Verona in the east and on the north–south mainline to Bologna, Rome, Naples and Salerno. The Simplon and Gotthard railway lines connect Milano Centrale to Basel and Geneva via Domodossola and Zürich via Chiasso in Switzerland.
Destinations of inter-city and regional railways radiate from Milano Centrale to Ventimiglia (border of France), Genova, Turin, Domodossola (border of Swiss Canton of Valais/Wallis), Tirano (border of Swiss Canton of Graubünden/Grisons), Bergamo, Verona, Mantova, Bologna and La Spezia.
The Milan suburban railway service, however, does not use Milano Centrale but the other mainline stations: Porta Garibaldi (northwest), Cadorna (west) and Rogoredo (east).
Architect Aldo Rossi declared in an interview of February 1995 to Cecilia Bolognesi:[5] "They told me that when Frank Lloyd Wright came to Milan, and he came only once, he was really impressed by it and said it was the most beautiful station in the world. For me it is also more beautiful than Grand Central Station in New York. I know few stations like this one".
The first Milano Centrale station opened in 1864 in the area now occupied by the Piazza della Repubblica, south of the modern station.[6] It was designed by French architect Louis-Jules Bouchot[7] (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 28 April 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, who titled his project "In Motu Vita," meaning "Life in Motion" in Latin.[8] His proposal was given unanimous approval by the commission gathered to judge the competition. The purported style was an eclectic mix called "Assyrian-Lombard."[9]
Due to the Italian economic crisis during World War I, construction proceeded very slowly. Stacchini made multiple revisions to the project, mainly to quell concerns by the Milan city government about high construction costs.[10] Benito Mussolini's ascention to the position of Prime Minister was the catalyst behind the resumption of work in 1925, as multiple public works projects were accelerated in order to bolster the reception of the Fascist givernment's ability to effectively manage national projects.[11] The major changes were the new platform types and the introduction of the great steel canopies by Alberto Fava; 341m (1,119feet) long and covering an area of .
Construction resumed in 1925, and on 1 July 1931 the station was officially opened in the presence of Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano.[12]
The station played a major role during the Holocaust in Italy, when Jewish inmates from the San Vittore Prison, previously captured in northern Italy, would be taken to a secret track, Binario 21, underneath the station to be deported to extermination camps. Altogether, 15 deportation trains with 1,200 prisoners left the station from Binario 21. A Memoriale della Shoah was opened at the former platform in January 2013 to commemorate these events.[13] [14]
Its façade is wide and its vault is 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."[15]
On 25 September 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.[16]
There remain unrestored and inaccessible areas to the public within the station, including a waiting room with swastikas on the floor designed to receive Adolf Hitler.[9]
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 Basel, Lugano, Geneva, Zürich, Paris, Vienna, Marseille and Munich.[17] The station is also connected to Milan-Malpensa Airport through the Malpensa Express airport train.
The following services call at the station (incomplete):
For regional (Regio) trains to Monza and Como from Milano Centrale, refer to the 'cross-border' services. There is no train of Milan Suburban railway service at Milano Centrale station, except for two late night S8 trains bound to Lecco, which serve the last passengers arriving to the station with long distance train.
(CH for Switzerland, D for Germany, A for Austria, MN for Monaco)
The following train has been moved to stop at Milano Lambrate railway station and Milano Porta Garibaldi railway station in 2020:
This train connects at Verona with ÖBB Nightjet/EuroNight Rome-Vienna: the train splits into two parts (first half couples with ÖBB Rome-Vienna and leaves for Vienna or Rome; second half continues to Munich or Milan). Vienna-Rome splits into two trains (first half continues to Rome or Vienna; second half couples with the train for Milan or Munich).
After the opening of Gotthard Base Tunnel in December 2016, train services between Milan and Switzerland increased in frequency. All SBB-CFF-FSS Eurocity (operates by Trenitalia in Italy) now save 35 minutes of total journey time between Bellinzona and Arth-Goldau.
From December 2017, a new cross-border service Milan-Frankfurt (Trenitalia-DB-SBB Eurocity) via Zürich will be operational.
From December 18, 2021, a new service Paris-Milan with Frecciarossa is opened.
The station is the terminus of the Milan–Paris Frecciarossa,[18] [19] which was inaugurated on 18 December 2021.[20]
The station, along with Roma Termini and Firenze Santa Maria Novella, has security gates, normally free flowing, though supervised by agents.
Each platform is usually dedicated to some particular route. The current organization is as follows, although temporary changes may occur.
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 now partially broken up.[21]