The Turin–Milan railway is a major Italian railway that links the cities of

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

and

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

. The railway is double track,

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in E ...

and fully electrified at 3 kV DC. It connects the cities of

Settimo Torinese Settimo Torinese ( pms, Ël Seto) is a ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Turin, in Piedmont, Italy. The name ''settimo'' means "seventh", and it comes from the comune's distance from Turin, which is seven Roman miles. It is bordered by the oth ...

, Chivasso, Santhià,

Vercelli Vercelli (; pms, Vërsèj ), is a city and ''comune'' of 46,552 inhabitants (January 1, 2017) in the Province of Vercelli, Piedmont, northern Italy. One of the oldest urban sites in northern Italy, it was founded, according to most historians, ...

Novara Novara (, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous city in Piedmont after Turin. It i ...

Magenta Magenta () is a color that is variously defined as pinkish- purplish- red, reddish-purplish-pink or mauvish-crimson. On color wheels of the RGB (additive) and CMY (subtractive) color models, it is located exactly midway between red and blu ...

and

Rho Rho (uppercase Ρ, lowercase ρ or ; el, ρο or el, ρω, label=none) is the 17th letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 100. It is derived from Phoenician letter res . Its uppercase form uses the sa ...

. Since February 2006 high-speed trains have operated over the Turin–Milan high-speed line between Turin and Novara. The remainder of the high-speed line between Novara and Milan was opened in December 2009, when the Bologna–Florence high-speed line and the remaining sections of the Rome–Naples high-speed railway line and the Naples–Salerno high-speed line are opened, completing the high-speed network between Turin and

Salerno Salerno (, , ; nap, label= Salernitano, Saliernë, ) is an ancient city and ''comune'' in Campania (southwestern Italy) and is the capital of the namesake province, being the second largest city in the region by number of inhabitants, after ...

History

Construction and opening

The line was built by

Thomas Brassey Thomas Brassey (7 November 18058 December 1870) was an English civil engineering contractor and manufacturer of building materials who was responsible for building much of the world's railways in the 19th century. By 1847, he had built about o ...

under contract to the ''Società Vittorio Emanuele'' ("Victor Emmanuel Company", named in honour of

Victor Emmanuel II en, Victor Emmanuel Maria Albert Eugene Ferdinand Thomas , house = Savoy , father = Charles Albert of Sardinia , mother = Maria Theresa of Austria , religion = Roman Catholicism , image_size = 252px , succession ...

, then king of

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

and

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label= Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, aft ...

) and opened between Turin and

on 20 October 1856 and extended to the

Ticino river The river Ticino ( , ; lmo, Tesín; French and german: Tessin; la, Ticīnus) is the most important perennial left-bank tributary of the Po. It has given its name to the Swiss canton through which its upper portion flows. It is one of the four ...

—which formed the boundary between Piedmont and the

Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia The Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia ( la, links=no, Regnum Langobardiae et Venetiae), commonly called the "Lombardo-Venetian Kingdom" ( it, links=no, Regno Lombardo-Veneto, german: links=no, Königreich Lombardo-Venetien), was a constituent land ...

(then part of 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, ...

)—on 18 October 1858. The bridge over the river connecting to the existing railway from Milan at

was opened on 1 June 1859. Three days later the French-Sardinian army led by

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A neph ...

defeated the Austrians at the

Battle of Magenta The Battle of Magenta was fought on 4 June 1859 during the Second Italian War of Independence, resulting in a French-Sardinian victory under Napoleon III against the Austrians under Marshal Ferencz Gyulai. It took place near the town of Mage ...

with the help of supplies brought by the new railway. This was a major step in the

unification of Italy The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...

. The line formed part of the

Società per le strade ferrate dell'Alta Italia The Società per le strade ferrate dell'Alta Italia (''Upper Italian Railways'', ''SFAI'') was an Italian railway company from 1865 to 1885. History It was established on 1 July 1865 with of line it acquired from the state railway of the Kingd ...

(''Upper Italian Railways'') from 1865 and the

Società per le Strade Ferrate del Mediterraneo The Società per le Strade Ferrate del Mediterraneo (''Mediterranean Railway Company'') was an Italian railway company from 1885 to 1905. It was established on 1 July 1885 and it absorbed the lines of the Società per le strade ferrate dell'Alta ...

(''Mediterranean Railway Company'') from 1885.

In the twentieth century

Following the nationalisation of the railways, the line was incorporated into the state network and its operation was taken over by

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 estat ...

between 1905 and 1906. The line was severely damaged during the Second World War. In 1951, it was restored to operation, albeit temporarily, in some parts. The main line from

was electrified from the timetable change in May 1960. The missing section from Turin to Novara was electrified the following year and inaugurated on 4 June in the presence of the Minister of Transport Giuseppe Spataro, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the unification of Italy. At the beginning of the 2000s, the management of the line passed to

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 ...

Features

The line is double-track, electrified at 3,000 volts DC and

standard-gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...

with a length of . Its infrastructure manager, RFI classifies it as a "fundamental line". The line has five junction stations, Settimo, Chivasso, Santhià,

and

. Lines branch off as follows: from Settimo to

Pont Canavese Pont Canavese is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located about north of Turin. It occupies a small fluvial plain between the rivers Orco and Soana: its names (''Pont'', derived from t ...

; from Chivasso to Ivrea/Aosta,

Asti Asti ( , , ; pms, Ast ) is a '' comune'' of 74,348 inhabitants (1-1-2021) located in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy, about east of Turin in the plain of the Tanaro River. It is the capital of the province of Asti and it is deeme ...

and

Alessandria Alessandria (; pms, Lissandria ) is a city and ''comune'' in Piedmont, Italy, and the capital of the Province of Alessandria. The city is sited on the alluvial plain between the Tanaro and the Bormida rivers, about east of Turin. Alessandri ...

; from Santhià to Arona and

Biella Biella (; pms, Biela; la, Bugella) is a city and ''comune'' in the northern Italian region of Piedmont, the capital of the province of the same name, with a population of 44,324 as of 31 December 2017. It is located about northeast of Turin a ...

; from Vercelli to Casale and

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 ...

; and from Novara to

, Alessandria/Arona,

Domodossola Domodossola (; Lombard: Dòm) is a city and ''comune'' in the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, in the region of Piedmont, northern Italy. It was also known as Oscela, Oscella, Oscella dei Leponzi, Ossolo, Ossola Lepontiorum, and Domo d'Ossola ...

and

Varallo Sesia Varallo Sesia (Piedmontese: ''Varal''), pronouciation (Vhuh-rahl-loh) commonly known as Varallo, is a '' comune'' and town in the province of Vercelli in the Piedmont region of Italy. It is situated in Valsesia, at above sea level and some nor ...

. The railway line is paralleled by the Turin–Milan high-speed railway, which crosses it several times during its journey, with connections at several points, including at: Torino Stura, Settimo, Bianzè,

and Rho Fiera. Trains can reach a top speed of 160 km/h on most of the line and between

and

Pregnana Milanese Pregnana Milanese is a town located in the Metropolitan City of Milan, Lombardy, northern Italy. It is served by Pregnana Milanese railway station. References

Cities and towns in Lombardy {{Milan-geo-stub ...

the speed limit is 180 km/h.

Operations

The line is used by freight and passenger trains of various categories, which are operated by various companies.

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 ...

operates the following services each day: * twenty pairs of fast regional trains between Turin and Milan; * regional trains on the Novara/Vercelli–Chivasso–Turin/ Ivrea route; * a pair of

InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at m ...

services between Turin and Milan; * two pairs of InterCity Night services between Turin and

Reggio Calabria Reggio di Calabria ( scn, label= Southern Calabrian, Riggiu; el, label= Calabrian Greek, Ρήγι, Rìji), usually referred to as Reggio Calabria, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, is the largest city in Calabria. It has an estimated popul ...

. In addition six

TGV The TGV (french: Train à Grande Vitesse, "high-speed train"; previously french: TurboTrain à Grande Vitesse, label=none) is France's intercity high-speed rail service, operated by SNCF. SNCF worked on a high-speed rail network from 1966 to 19 ...

services a day are operated on the Milan–Turin–

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

route; The Novara–Milan section is also used by line S6 of the

Milan suburban railway service 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 a ...

, operated by

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 ...

, while the Chivasso–Turin section is used by line 2 of the Turin metropolitan railway service, operated by Trenitalia.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turin-Milan railway Railway lines in Lombardy Railway lines in Piedmont Railway lines opened in 1859 1859 establishments in Italy