Brenner railway station (german: Bahnhof Brenner; it, Stazione di Brennero) is the border station of Italy and Austria. It serves the town and

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

of Brenner in the autonomous province of

South Tyrol it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol , settlement_type = Autonomous area, Autonomous Provinces of Italy, province , image_skyline = ...

, northeastern Italy. The station, situated at 1,371 m above sea, was opened in 1867 by the Austrian Empire's Südbahn as a mountain pass stop along the Brenner Railway. In 1919, Brenner station came 300 m (980 ft) south of the border due to the annexation of County of Tyrol's territory by Italy from Treaty of Saint Germain-en-Laye (1919). The station is currently managed by

Rete Ferroviaria Italiana Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI) is the Italian railway infrastructure manager, subsidiary of Ferrovie dello Stato (FS), a state-owned holding company. RFI is the owner of Italy's railway network, it provides signalling, maintenance and other se ...

(RFI). Italian train services to and from this station are operated by

Trenitalia Trenitalia is the primary train operator in Italy. A subsidiary of Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, itself owned by the Italian government, the company was established in 2000 following a European Union directive on the deregulation of rail tra ...

. Austrian train services, which use the platforms north of the station, are operated by

ÖBB The Austrian Federal Railways (german: Österreichische Bundesbahnen, formally (lit. "Austrian Federal Railways Holding Stock Company") and formerly the or ''BBÖ''), now commonly known as ÖBB, is the national railway company ...

Location

The station is situated at ''Karl-von-Etzel-Strasse'' in the centre of town.

History

County of Tyrol

Construction of the Brenner Railway between Verona (Bern-im-Wälsch) to Innsbruck began in 1851 under the Austrian Empire's Südbahn. On 25 July 1867, the section between Bozen and Brenner entered operation; the first train to leave for Bozen left Brenner at 8.05 am. Brenner station was officially opened on 24 August 1867, together with the remaining final section to Innsbruck. Some houses in Brenner had been destroyed to make room for a new area, long, for the station building and other rail infrastructure. The arrival of railway opened a new era for the village: it confirmed Brenner Pass, which has already been a major trans-Alpine crossing from the ancient Roman times, as the principal mountain pass for travellers and merchants. Moreover, the railway enabled more efficient movement of troops for the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence ...

to secure its southern regions of modern-day

Veneto it, Veneto (man) it, Veneta (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = ...

and Lombardy.

Transfer to Italy

On 26 April 1915, the Treaty of London promised Italy the territory south of the Brenner Pass (now known as

), if the country switched its side to support the Entente powers against the Central Powers led by the German and Austro-Hungarian empires. On 10 November 1918, following the German Empire's call for an armistice, Italian troops moved up from Veneto and arrived at Brenner. The Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye was signed with Austria on 10 September 1919. Under that treaty, the new border of Italy and Austria (Republic of German-Austria) moved to Brenner.Con.fine Brennero, Editrice Athesia, 2006,

Schengen passport-free zone

In 1992, Austria signed the

Schengen Agreement The Schengen Agreement ( , ) is a treaty which led to the creation of Europe's Schengen Area, in which internal border checks have largely been abolished. It was signed on 14 June 1985, near the town of Schengen, Luxembourg, by five of the t ...

and subsequently became a member nation of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

in 1995. Border and custom control posts at Brenner station have been removed.

Features

The passenger building is a modest, well-maintained three-storey structure. At ground level, it houses the ticket office, a waiting room and a station cafe. There are offices upstairs for both rail operators,

and

, The station yard has a total of 12 through tracks: five of them are equipped with platforms and four terminating tracks with bay platforms. All of the platforms are connected by a

pedestrian underpass A subway, also known as an underpass, is a grade-separated pedestrian crossing which crosses underneath a road or railway in order to entirely separate pedestrians and cyclists from motor traffic or trains respectively. Terminology In the Un ...

. Another seven through tracks, which are not equipped with platforms, are used for overtaking and exchange of locomotives. All single system

electric locomotive An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime movers, such as diesel engines or g ...

s must be changed here at the border, since Austria and Italy use different electrical networks (15 kV AC at 16⅔ Hz in Austria, 3000 V DC in Italy). However, the Südtirol Bahn now operate on multi-system locomotives on their Bozen/Bolzano-Innsbruck through service.

Passenger and train movements

There is considerable transit traffic of both passengers and goods through the station. Austria/South Tyrol * Regional train (Südtirol Bahn Regio-Express) Bozen-Innsbruck: Innsbruck - Brennero/Brenner - Fortezza/Franzensfeste - Bressanone/Brixen - Bolzano/Bozen *

Tyrol S-Bahn The Tyrol S-Bahn provides regional rail services in metropolitan Innsbruck, Austria and its hinterlands in the state of Tyrol. At present, it is only a nominally an S-Bahn in that it only operates on the lines of the Austrian Federal Railways. Expa ...

Line 4: Brenner - Gries-am-Brenner - Steinach-am-Brenner - Matrei-am-Brenner - Innsbruck * Regional train (Südtirol Bahn Regio) Brenner-Meran: Brennero/Brenner - Vipiteno/Sterzing - Fortezza/Franzensfeste - Bressanone/Brixen - Chiusa/Klausen - Bolzano/Bozen - Terlano/Terlan - Merano/Meran Italy * Regional train (

Regional Express) Brennero/Brenner-Bologna: Brennero/Brenner - Fortezza/Franzensfeste - Bressanone/Brixen - Chuisa/Klausen - Bolzano/Bozen - Ora/Auer - Trento/Trient - Rovereto/Rofreit - Verona - Isola della Scala - Nogara - Bologna Cross-border * Intercity train (

EuroCity) Munich-Verona/Venice: Munich - Kufstein - Jenbach - Innsbruck - Bolzano/Bozen - Trento/Trient - Rovereto/Rofreit - Verona - (Padua) - (Venice) * Intercity train (

EuroCity) Munich-Verona/Bologna: Munich - Kufstein - Jenbach - Innsbruck - Bolzano/Bozen - Trento/Trient - Rovereto/Rofreit - Verona - (Bologna)

Future

In addition to passenger traffic, Brenner has seen an increasing volume of freight traffic over the past decades. The dual-track Brenner Railway was already running at full capacity as of the late 2000s; therefore, transport of freight by road has risen and consequently caused traffic congestion and air pollution, as Brenner Pass is the region's only major thoroughfare between Austria and Italy. The

Brenner Base Tunnel The Brenner Base Tunnel (german: Brennerbasistunnel; it, Galleria di base del Brennero) is a railway tunnel under construction through the base of the Eastern Alps beneath the Brenner Pass. Upon completion, it will be the second or third longe ...

, scheduled to be completed in 2025, would divert all freight rail traffic between Fortezza/Franzensfeste and Innsbruck via a tunnel underneath Brenner. Local traffic between Fortezza, Brenner and Innsbruck would continue with additional capacity being released on this railway section. The majority of freight traffic, as well as some passenger services, would make use of this tunnel. Journey time between Bozen/Bolzano and Innsbruck would be reduced from 2 hours to 50–55 minutes. Example of reduction of journey times (if passenger services are transferred to the Base Tunnel): *Bozen/Bolzano to Innsbruck - 2 hours currently; 50 minutes via Brenner Base Tunnel *Verona to Munich - 5 hours 20 minutes currently; 4 hours 10 minutes via Brenner Base Tunnel omitting Brenner station only

Gallery

File:FS 245 locomotive.jpg, FS class 245 locomotive at the station. File:Brennero-Station-0824.jpg, Old station sign. File:Brennero - Con trifase.jpg, View of the station. File:Brennero, m. 1370 s. m. - Panorama, 1939.jpg, Brenner in 1939.

References

Notes

External links

History and pictures of Brenner railway station
{{in lang, it ''This article is based upon a translation of the Italian language version as at January 2011.'' Railway stations in South Tyrol Railway stations opened in 1867