The Milan–Venice railway line is one of the most important railway lines in Italy. It connects the major city of

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 ...

, in Lombardy, with the

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) ...

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

, in

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

. The line is state-owned and operated by the state rail infrastructure company,

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 s ...

that classifies it as a trunk line. The line is

electrified Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic histor ...

at 3,000 volts DC.

History

The line was designed by the Austrian Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia to connect its two joint capitals and built by a company named the ''Imperiale Regia Privilege Strada ferrata Ferdinandea Lombardo-Veneta dell'Imperatore'' in honour of

Ferdinand I of Austria en, Ferdinand Charles Leopold Joseph Francis Marcelin , image = Kaiser Ferdinand I.jpg , caption = Portrait by Eduard Edlinger (1843) , succession = Emperor of Austria King of Hungary , moretext = ( more...) , cor-type ...

. It was built in sections: the first section to be completed was between

Padua Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of t ...

and

Marghera Marghera is a ''municipalità'' (borough) of the ''comune'' of Venice, Italy. It includes the industrial area known as Porto Marghera (English: Marghera Port) or Venezia Porto Marghera. Etymology The name Marghera is said in popular myth to come ...

, opened on 13 December 1842, and was the third railway opened in Italy. On 13 January 1846 a bridge over the Venetian Lagoon between Mestre and Venice was opened, with 222 arches supported on 80,000

larch Larches are deciduous conifers in the genus ''Larix'', of the family Pinaceae (subfamily Laricoideae). Growing from tall, they are native to much of the cooler temperate northern hemisphere, on lowlands in the north and high on mountains furt ...

piles. It was followed by the opening of the Padua–

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the '' Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan. Vicenza is a t ...

section on 11 January 1846 and the Milan–

Treviglio Treviglio (, Bergamasque: ) is a town and ''comune'' (i.e. municipality) in the province of Bergamo, in Lombardy, Northern Italy. It lies south of the province capital, in the lower territory called "Bassa Bergamasca". It's also part of the geo ...

section on 15 February 1846. The

First Italian War of Independence The First Italian War of Independence ( it, Prima guerra d'indipendenza italiana), part of the Italian Unification (''Risorgimento''), was fought by the Kingdom of Sardinia (Piedmont) and Italian volunteers against the Austrian Empire and other ...

slowed construction of other sections: the Vicenza–

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

Porta Vescovo stretch was inaugurated on 3 July 1849; it was extended across the

Adige The Adige (; german: Etsch ; vec, Àdexe ; rm, Adisch ; lld, Adesc; la, Athesis; grc, Ἄθεσις, Áthesis, or , ''Átagis'') is the second-longest river in Italy, after the Po. It rises near the Reschen Pass in the Vinschgau in the pro ...

river to

Verona Porta Nuova Verona Porta Nuova is the main railway station of Verona, Italy. It is one of the two stations serving central Verona; the other station, Verona Porta Vescovo, is located at the east of the city. It is situated at ''Piazzale XXV Aprile'' ("25 A ...

on 14 December 1852. An extension followed to

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Ise ...

and

Bergamo Bergamo (; lmo, Bèrghem ; from the proto- Germanic elements *''berg +*heim'', the "mountain home") is a city in the alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from Switzerland, the alpine lakes C ...

via Coccaglio on 22 April 1854. The line was completed with the opening of the section between Bergamo to Treviglio on 12 October 1857, following the inauguration of the bridge over the Oglio at Palazzolo. The original route via Treviglio, Bergamo and Brescia was 285 km long. The direct between Rovato and Treviglio, bypassing Bergamo was opened on 5 March 1878, and the line took its current form. In 1852 the original operating company was taken over by the state, but it was privatised in 1856, being sold to the

Rothschild banking family of France The Rothschild banking family of France (french: Famille banquière Rothschild) is a French banking dynasty founded in 1812 in Paris (at the time in the First French Empire) by James Mayer de Rothschild (1792–1868). James was sent there from ...

for 156.25 million gold

francs The franc is any of various units of currency. One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription ''francorum rex'' ( King of the Franks) used on early French coins and until the 18th cent ...

to form the ''Societé IR Privilégiée des Chemins de Fer Lombards-Vénitiens et de l'Italie Centrale'', with a concession to complete the Milan–Venice line and to extend it to

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into pr ...

(the Venice–Trieste line) and to build branches to

Lake Maggiore Lake Maggiore (, ; it, Lago Maggiore ; lmo, label= Western Lombard, Lagh Maggior; pms, Lagh Magior; literally 'Greater Lake') or Verbano (; la, Lacus Verbanus) is a large lake located on the south side of the Alps. It is the second largest l ...

(the beginning of the Milan-Domodossola line),

Como Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label=Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Its proximity to Lake Como and to the Alps has m ...

(the Milan–Chiasso line),

Pavia Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the cap ...

(the beginning of the Milan–Genoa line),

Piacenza Piacenza (; egl, label= Piacentino, Piaṡëinsa ; ) is a city and in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, and the capital of the eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with over ...

(the beginning of the Milan–Bologna line) and to

Mantua Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard language, Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture ...

and Borgoforte (the beginning of the Verona–Mantua–Modena line). The Rothschild's rail interests were collectively referred to as the Südbahn. With the transfer of

to Italy as a result of the

Third Italian War of Independence The Third Italian War of Independence ( it, Terza Guerra d'Indipendenza Italiana) was a war between the Kingdom of Italy and the Austrian Empire fought between June and August 1866. The conflict paralleled the Austro-Prussian War and resulted in ...

in 1866, the Milan–Venice railway became part of the Società per le strade ferrate dell'Alta Italia (''Upper Italian Railways''). In 1885 it became part of the Rete Adriatica (''Adriatic Network'') and in 1905 it was absorbed into

Ferrovie dello Stato Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane S.p.A. ( "Italian Railways of the State"; previously only Ferrovie dello Stato, hence the abbreviation FS) is Italy's national state-owned railway holding company that manages transport, infrastructure, real estate ...

on its foundation. Electrification at 3000 volts DC was completed in 1956.

The current line

The railway is long, double track and fully electrified. The most important cities passed are Brescia, Verona, Vicenza, Padua and Mestre: these are also the key interchange points with other public transport services. The line has four tracks between Milan Lambrate and Treviglio and between Padua and Venezia Mestre, including high-speed lines on those sections. The high speed pair of lines is referred to as ''DD'' (derived from "direttissima"—literally most direct—an Italian word for high-speed railway) and the other pair is referred to as the ''Linea Lenta'' (meaning "slow line", abbreviated ''LL''). The high-speed line between Treviglio and Brescia was completed in December 2016 and planning for its extension from Brescia to Venice is under way. The line is served 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 transp ...

and

Trenord Trenord is a railway company which is responsible for the operation of regional passenger trains in Lombardy. The company was established by the two main railway companies in Lombardy, Trenitalia and Ferrovie Nord Milano (FNM), to manage train o ...

regional trains between Milan and Verona and between Verona and Venice. The section from Pioltello to the Milan Cintura (belt) line is also served by trains of the S5 and S6 (starting from Treviglio) lines of the

Milan Suburban Railway Network The Milan S Lines constitute the commuter rail system serving the metropolitan area of Milan, Italy. The system comprises 11 lines serving 124 stations, for a total length of 403 km. There are 415 trains per day with a daily ridership of ...

. The Padua–Venice section is also used by the lines of the Metropolitan Regional Rail System of the

region. Long distance passenger traffic is served by Trenitalia

Eurostar Eurostar is an international high-speed rail service connecting the United Kingdom with France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Most Eurostar trains travel through the Channel Tunnel between the United Kingdom and France, owned and operated sep ...

and

Cisalpino Cisalpino AG () was a railway company, referred to as CIS in timetables, operating international trains between Switzerland and Italy connecting Basel, Schaffhausen, Zürich, Geneva, Milan, Venice, Trieste, Livorno, and Florence. The company ...

trains. The railway is also used by freight trains operated by several railway companies.

References

Footnotes

Sources

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External links