The Milan–Verona high-speed railway is an Italian long

high-speed railway High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail transport network utilising trains that run significantly faster than those of traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated railway track, tracks. While there is ...

line, that is partly open and partly under construction to connect

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

with

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

. The route operates through the regions of

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

and

Veneto Veneto, officially the Region of Veneto, is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the Northeast Italy, north-east of the country. It is the fourth most populous region in Italy, with a population of 4,851,851 as of 2025. Venice is t ...

. The line is part of Railway axis 6 of the

Trans-European rail network The Trans-European Rail network is made up of the Trans-European high-speed rail network as well as the Trans-European conventional rail network. The rail network is one of a number of the European Union's Trans-European transport networks (TEN- ...

(TEN-T) on the

Pan-European Corridor The ten Pan-European transport corridors were defined at the second Pan-European transport Conference in Crete, March 1994, as routes in Central and Eastern Europe that required major investment over the next ten to fifteen years. Additions were ...

V. The line will replace the

Milan–Venice railway The Milan–Venice railway line is one of the most important railway lines in Italy. It connects the major city of Milan, in Lombardy, with the Adriatic Sea at Venice, in Veneto. The line is state-owned and operated by the state rail infrastructu ...

for high-speed trains. In 2007, the first phase of construction was completed and opened, between Milan Lambrate and

Treviglio Treviglio (; ) is a town and (i.e. municipality) in the province of Bergamo, in Lombardy, Northern Italy. It lies south of the province capital, in the lower territory called . It is also part of the geographic area named , included among the r ...

. In 2016, the second phase between Treviglio and Brescia was completed. Construction of the remaining section to

is still in progress; it is expected to be completed in 2022 or 2023. High speed trains travel on the new line until Brescia, then move to the conventional line for the remaining section. The stretch to be built between Milan and Verona will measure a total of around . The route will pass through 31 municipalities in Lombardy and 4 in Veneto. The signal system on the existing line is the same as on most of the conventional lines, while that of the under construction section will feature ERTMS/ETCS, which ensures interoperability between the European rail lines.

Construction

Milan-Treviglio section

The project between Milan and Treviglio was approved in 1995. The connection between the Lambrate station in Milan and the station Pioltello-Limito was completed in 2000, while the 30-kilometre segment between Milan and Treviglio was opened on 10 June 2007, for a cost of €290 million.

Treviglio-Brescia section

The final design of the segment between Treviglio and Brescia was approved by CIPE in November 2007, with €2.05 billion in funding provided by the Economic Financial Planning Document (DPEF) between 2007 and 2011. On 7 March 2011, an agreement was signed between

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

and Cepav Due for the first part of the project, valued at €700 million. Work began in May 2012 and the Treviglio–Brescia segment was completed in 2016. High-speed service between Milan and Brescia began on 11 December 2016, with an advertised travel time of 36 minutes between the two cities.

Brescia-Verona section

The section of the Brescia Est – Verona high speed line has been approved in 2016 and construction started with a projected opening in 2026. This section of the high speed rail is under construction alongside the A4 Milan-Venice motorway and the conventional railway line. It crosses the Lombardy and Veneto Regions, 11 municipalities within the provinces of Brescia, Verona and Mantua (the latter only for road work purposes) and foresees for the construction of a railway track extending approximately , including for the Verona Merci interconnection linking the Verona-Brenner railway axis.

Verona-Padua line

Beyond Verona, the Verona-Padua line is divided into three lots of which the first lot between Verona and the junction (bivio) at Vicenza started construction in 2021; it is expected to open in 2026. This first section will run for across 13 municipalities, quadrupling the existing railway. The Verona-Padua project's construction is valued at a combined total of approximately €4.8 billion. At in length, the railway will serve as an important link across Italy's northeast.

The route

Leaving Milan Centrale station, the railway shares a common route with conventional tracks to Milan Lambrate station. After leaving Lambrate, it branches off east towards the

to Verona and Bergamo. At Melzo (near Pozzuolo station), the high-speed line divides from the historical route west of Treviglio station. This junction at Treviglio West will enable connection of the currently separate Treviglio and Treviglio West (Ovest) stations. The dedicated high-speed section between Treviglio and Brescia is long. The project approved by the CIPE involved the construction of a new high-speed, high capacity railway that bypasses the city of Bergamo to the south, reaching Brescia along a trajectory that is mostly separate from the conventional line. The new track branches from the future junction at Treviglio West to follow the A35 motorway to the municipality of Castrezzato. From this location, at the completion of the railway line up to Verona, there will be a branch to Brescia West junction, joining with the conventional route. This junction will join the conventional line near

Ospitaletto Ospitaletto (Brescian: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of a ...

to arrive at the station of Brescia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Milan-Verona high-speed railway High-speed railway lines in Italy High-speed railway lines under construction Railway lines in Lombardy Railway lines in Veneto Proposed railway lines in Italy Standard-gauge railways in Italy