Milano Centrale railway station

Milano Centrale
Main entrance portico on Piazza Duca d'Aosta, 2022
General information
Location	Piazza Duca d'Aosta 20124 Milan Italy
Coordinates	45°29′10″N 09°12′13″E / 45.48611°N 9.20361°E / 45.48611; 9.20361
Owned by	Rete Ferroviaria Italiana
Operated by	Grandi Stazioni
Line(s)	Milan–Bologna (high-speed) Milan–Bologna (traditional) Milan–Turin (high-speed) Milan–Turin (traditional) Milan–Genoa Milan–Venice Milan–Chiasso (–Zürich) Milan–Domodossola (–Brig) Milan–Lecco
Tracks	24
Connections	Milan Metro ATM trams ATM buses and trolleybuses Airport buses
Construction
Architect	Ulisse Stacchini
Other information
IATA code	XIK[1]
Fare zone	STIBM: Mi1[2]
History
Opened	1 July 1931; 93 years ago (1931-07-01)
Electrified	1938 (1938)
Passengers
120 million per year
Location Milano Centrale Location in Milan Central Show map of Milan Milano Centrale Location in Lombardy Show map of Lombardy Milano Centrale Location in Northern Italy Show map of Northern Italy Milano Centrale Location in Italy Show map of 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^[3] (after Roma Termini) and the largest railway station in Europe by volume.^[4]

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:^[5] "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".