Milan–Bologna high-speed railway

The Milan–Bologna high-speed railway is a railway line that links the cities of Milan and Bologna, part of the Italian high-speed rail network. It runs parallel to the historical north–south railway between Milan and Bologna, which itself follows the ancient Roman Road, the Via Aemilia. The new railway follows the Autostrada A1 closely for much of its length. The new line allows faster traffic to run separated and increase the overall railway capacity between the two cities.

The line is part of Corridor 1 of the European Union's Trans-European high-speed rail network, which connects Berlin to Palermo. The line is 214 kilometers (133 mi) long from the Milano Centrale to Bologna Centrale station, with trains taking about 1 hour and 5 minutes to cover the distance.

The first section of the line on the outskirts of Milan was opened in 1997. A 15 km (9.3 mi) section between Bologna and Modena was opened for freight traffic in September 2006 and for passenger traffic in October 2007. The rest of the route was opened to commercial traffic on 13 December 2008 to coincide with the main European timetable change. The Bologna–Florence high-speed line, the remaining Milan-Novara section of the Milan–Turin high-speed line and the Gricignano di Aversa–Naples section of the Rome–Naples high-speed line opened to traffic in December 2009, completing the high speed line from Turin to Salerno, except for planned underground level at Bologna and new station in Florence. The underground level at Bologna was opened on 8 June 2013.