Milano Centrale railway station

Milano Centrale
Main entrance portico on Piazza Duca d'Aosta, 2022
General information
LocationPiazza Duca d'Aosta
20124 Milan
Italy
Coordinates45°29′10″N 09°12′13″E / 45.48611°N 9.20361°E / 45.48611; 9.20361
Owned byRete Ferroviaria Italiana
Operated byGrandi Stazioni
Line(s)
Tracks24
Connections
Construction
ArchitectUlisse Stacchini
Other information
IATA codeXIK
Fare zoneSTIBM: Mi1
History
Opened1 July 1931 (1931-07-01)
Electrified1938 (1938)
Passengers
120 million per year
Services
Preceding station Trenitalia Following station
Torino Porta Susa
towards Paris-Lyon
Frecciarossa Terminus
Terminus Brescia
Torino Porta Nuova
Terminus
Milano Rogoredo
Terminus Piacenza
towards Lecce
Frecciabianca Genova Piazza Principe

InterCity
VentimigliaMilano
Pavia
towards Ventimiglia

InterCity
MilanoLivorno
Pavia
towards Livorno

InterCity
MilanoNapoli
Milano Rogoredo

InterCity
MilanoLecce
Milano Rogoredo
towards Lecce

InterCity Notte
MilanoLecce

InterCity Notte
MilanoSiracusa
Piacenza
towards Siracusa
Stresa
towards Basel SBB
EuroCity Terminus
Stresa Brescia
Como San Giovanni
towards Zürich HB
Como San Giovanni Terminus
Rho Fiera
Regionale Veloce
TorinoMilano
Terminus
Regionale Veloce
GenovaMilano
Milano Lambrate

Regionale Veloce
AstiMilano
Milano Lambrate
towards Asti
Preceding station Trenitalia Tper Following station
Terminus
Regionale
MilanoPescara
Milano Lambrate
Preceding station Trenord Following station
Milano Porta Garibaldi Malpensa Express Terminus
Terminus RE2 Milano Lambrate
towards Bergamo
Rho Fiera
towards Domodossola
RE4 Terminus
Terminus RE6 Milano Lambrate
RE8 Monza
towards Tirano
RE11 Milano Lambrate
towards Mantova
RE13 Milano Lambrate
R4 Milano Lambrate
towards Brescia
Milano Porta Garibaldi R28 Terminus
Terminus
limited service
Milano Greco Pirelli
One-way operation
Preceding station TiLo Following station
Terminus RE80 Monza
towards Locarno
Preceding station Following station
Rho Fiera TorinoReggio Calabria Reggio Emilia AV Mediopadana
TorinoBari Reggio Emilia AV Mediopadana
TorinoSalerno Milano Rogoredo
towards Salerno
Terminus MilanoVenezia Brescia
MilanoUdine Brescia
towards Udine
Location
Milano Centrale
Location in Milan Central
Milano Centrale
Location in Lombardy
Milano Centrale
Location in Northern Italy
Milano Centrale
Location in 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 (after Roma Termini) and the largest railway station in Europe by volume.

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: "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".