Verona Porta Nuova railway station

Verona Porta Nuova

The station and city bus stop.

The station and city bus stop.
Location Piazzale 25 Aprile, 6
37138 Verona
Verona, Verona, Veneto
Italy
Coordinates 45°25′45″N 10°58′56″E / 45.429167°N 10.982222°E / 45.429167; 10.982222Coordinates: 45°25′45″N 10°58′56″E / 45.429167°N 10.982222°E / 45.429167; 10.982222
Owned by Rete Ferroviaria Italiana
Operated by Grandi Stazioni
Line(s) Milan–Venice
Verona–Bologna
Verona–Innsbruck
Verona–Mantua–Modena
Verona–Legnago–Rovigo
Train operators Trenitalia
Thello
Trenord
Connections
  • Urban, long distance and airport buses
History
Opened 1851
Location
Verona Porta Nuova
Location within Northern Italy

Verona Porta Nuova is the main railway station of City of Verona. It is situated at Piazzale XXV Aprile ("25 April") and south of the city centre and River Adige (Etsch). The station is a 25-minute walk or 10-minute bus ride from the city centre and Arena di Verona. In 1852, the Austrian Empire's Südbahn opened Verona Porta Nuova, which has substantially been rebuilt between 1910 and 1922. Following the destruction by allied bombings during the Second World War, the present building was reconstructed between 1946 and 1949.

Verona Porta Nuova station provides major connections to Italian and European destinations: it is a cross junction of two mainlines running from east to west and from north to south. The east-west Milan-Venice Railway intersects with the north-south Brenner Railway west of the station. The Brenner Railway continues southward to Bologna, Florence and Rome. The station handles 25 million passengers annually. After initial construction of the Milan-Verona-Venice high-speed railway, the section between Milan and Brescia was completed in June 2016.

History

Welschbern under Austria

The first train to arrive at Verona Porta Nuova station in 1852 was driven by the locomotive Verona on the newly-built railway from Venice which crossed River Adige (Etsch). In 1853, it became possible to operate trains from Verona to Mantua on a single-track line. In the same year, the Austrian Empire began construction of the Brenner Railway over the Brenner Pass at 1,371 m, connecting County of Tyrol and Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia. The Brenner Railway was among Austria's first trans-alpine heavy railway along with the now defunct Franzensfeste-Marburg Railway (Fortezza in Italy and Maribor in Slovenia).

The initial station building was a temporary wooden structure in 1851; it was replaced in 1852 by a small masonry building. The masonry, however, had an odd shape: a part of its front had eight arched openings, which went further forward than the other part with only three. Upon its opening, the Porta Nuova station was less important than the Porta Vescovo station, which was located near a major Austrian military camp. At that time, Verona, called Bern-im-Wälsch, was one of the Austrian Empire's main military strongholds with a capacity of 120,000 troops. The Porta Nuova station was initially used only by the two of the three classes of passenger trains then in the region: "omnibus" and "mixed" trains. It did not handle the fastest, most expensive "direct" trains or offer any baggage service.

The Verona-Mantua Railway opened in 1853 and trains stopped at Sant'Antonio Mantovano station. Extension of the railway to Modena was carried out in stages: in 1873 trains reached Mantua across River Mincio and in 1874 through services ran to Modena, joining up Milan-Bologna mainline.

In 1854, the Verona-Venice Railway was extended westwards to Brescia and Bergamo. The Brenner Railway reached Bozen in 1859 and eventually crossed the Brenner Pass to Innsbruck in 1867.

Network transfer to Italy

After Austria's defeat in the Austro-Prussian War (1866), in which Italy sided with Prussia over territorial promise of Venetia, ownership of the Brenner Railway south of Ahl-am-Etsch transferred to Italy.

The railway line to Rovigo opened in 1877.

With the absorption of Veneto into Italy in 1866, the Milan-Verona-Venice Railway came under the management of the Upper Italian Railways. The size of Verona's previous station was no longer sufficient in handling rail traffic; Porta Nuova was therefore designated as the main station of Verona. In 1900, the building was temporarily enlarged with a central wooden building, while projects were being developing for the new station. Architects initially envisaged the station comprising six platforms with additional tracks for the storage of rolling stock and for freight train operations.

First Reconstruction (1910s)

Work on reconstructing the new station building, designed by the architect Dini, began in 1910 and was almost complete in 1913, albeit in a preliminary form. The proposed building would be 114 metres long and 20 metres high, contain a central dome and two smaller buildings on its side, and hoist a canopy along its facade. The central section would host the ticket office and luggage facility; there would be a waiting room on the left was and a buffet the right. Offices would occupy the second floor. These plans, however, were not well-received among the Veronese.

By early 1915, the new freight facilities were already in operation, including the commissioning of a large goods yard and locomotive depot. The outbreak of the First World War halted reconstruction work of the station. The formal re-opening, therefore, was delayed until 22 March 1922. The re-opened station's interior was decorated with mosaics by the master mosaic artist, Amedeo Mantellato, of Venice. In the 1920s, a track connection was built between the Brenner line and the goods yard.

In 1924, a more direct line to Bologna, Verona-Bologna Railway, was inaugurated. The route diverts to the east from the Verona-Mantua line and bypasses Mantua and Modena.[1][2]

In the 1930s, a new depot for locomotives was added to the storage facilities. Electrification of the lines around Verona was completed in 1941.[3][4]

Second Reconstruction (post-1945)

The station was partially destroyed by bombing during World War II. The first isolated bombing raid of the station was carried out by a formation of four aircraft on 21 October 1940; the raid made use of cluster bombs and incendiaries. In total, the city has suffered twenty bombing raids. Two of the toughest attacks took place on 4 and 28 January 1945 and the station was rendered unusable.[5]

In September 1946, the station was rebuilt on the same site to a design by the architect Roberto Narducci. This rebuilt station, aesthetically very different from the original, though structurally similar, was completed in March 1949. Many types of marble from Verona were used, covering an area of 4,000 m²; the floors were laid out with mosaics composed of ceramic tiles and the furniture was installed that was designed to harmonise with the building.[6][7]

The new station carried over from the previous station a gap between its elevated platforms and the level of the pedestrian areas outside the station. This peculiarity has forced services to be organised on two floors: on the ground floor there are services for business travellers and the public, while rail-related services are located on the upper floor. The platforms have metal roofs in Art Nouveau style (even with those that survived from the previous station); whereas the roofs of the central and two lateral buildings are made of reinforced concrete. The current station building, however, does not include any elements of historical and architectural heritage.

Renovation (2014-15)

The station has been included in the program of rehabilitation among major Italian stations, carried out by Grandi Stazioni, a subsidiary of the Italian State Railway. It would be renovated in order to accommodate the Milan–Verona high-speed railway and the Verona–Venice high-speed railway.

The station area, managed by Grandi Stazioni, extends over an area of 127,500 m² with buildings occupying 22,840 m². Among these, 2730 m² will be involved in the first phase of the renovation.[7] In April 2014, the information boards (train departures and arrivals) at the station's main ticket hall has been upgraded from analog to digital display.

The bus station area has been reorganised for the winter bus timetable from 14 September 2015 onwards: the western area became an outdoor garden at ground level, a short-stay car park and underground parking spaces. The urban (city) and extraurban (suburban and intercity) bus stops have been extended westwards and rearranged to bring some routes closer to the main area. A new waiting hall, which would host the ticket office, is being built at the bus station.

Passenger statistics

Platforms

Verona Porta Nuova is used by about 68,000 passengers each day and a total of 25 million annually. It is the ninth busiest railway station in Italy.[7] The station area is the centre of Verona's transport network: the Bus Terminal is located directly in front of station building and hosts services by ATV Verona (“Azienda Trasporti Verona”, ATV) to Verona-Villafranca Airport and popular tourist attractions along Lake Garda.

Station

The station building of Verona Porta Nuova has 4 storeys:[7]

Train services

The station is served by the following services as of December 2015:

Domestic (High Speed)

Domestic

Cross-border

(D for Germany, A for Austria, CH for Switzerland)

Cross-border (Night trains)

On 11 December 2016, all ÖBB EuroNight services will be rebranded "ÖBB Nightjet". ÖBB will also take over Deutsche Bahn's night train; the Munich-Milan service will be diverted via Padua and Villach (coupled and de-coupled with Vienna-Rome/Milan at Villach).

(D for Germany, A for Austria, R for Russia, BR for Belarus, PL for Poland, CZ for Czech Republic, F for France)

^ Train connects at Verona with ÖBB EuroNight Rome-Vienna: DB CityNightLine splits into two trains (first half couples with ÖBB Rome-Vienna and leaves for Vienna or Rome; second half continues to Munich or Milan). Vienna-Rome splits into two trains (first half continues to Rome or Vienna; second half couples with DB CityNightLine for Milan or Munich).


Preceding station   Trenitalia   Following station
Frecciargento
toward Roma Termini
Terminus
Frecciargento
toward Roma Termini
Frecciabianca
Frecciabianca
toward Udine
Rovereto
toward München Hbf
EuroCity
Rovereto
toward München Hbf
EuroCity
toward Bologna Centrale
toward München Hbf
EuroNight
Terminus
toward Nice-Ville
Intercity Notte
Intercity Notte
Orvieto
toward Roma Termini
TerminusTreno regionale
Domegliara-Sant'Ambrogio
toward Brennero
Treno regionale
Isola della Scala
toward Brescia
Treno regionale
Domegliara-Sant'Ambrogio
Treno regionaleTerminus
TerminusTreno regionale
Buttapietra
TerminusTreno regionale
Buttapietra
toward Rovigo
TerminusTreno regionale
Dossobuono
toward Mantova
Preceding station   Thello   Following station
Thello
toward Venice
Preceding station   Trenord   Following station
EuroCity
EuroNight
toward Wien Hbf
Treno regionaleTerminus
toward Brescia
Treno regionaleTerminus

See also

References

  1. ↑ Facchinelli, L. (1995). La ferrovia Verona-Brennero. Storia della linea e delle stazioni nel territorio (The Verona–Bologna railway, history of the line and its stations) (in Italian). Bolzano: Athesia. pp. 86–88.
  2. ↑ "Chronological overview of the opening of railway lines from 1839 to 31 December 1926" (in Italian). Trenidicarta.it. Retrieved 22 January 2010.
  3. ↑ Facchinelli, L. (1995). La ferrovia Verona-Brennero. Storia della linea e delle stazioni nel territorio (The Verona–Bologna railway, history of the line and its stations) (in Italian). Bolzano: Athesia. pp. 89–96.
  4. ↑ Kalla-Bishop, P. M. (1971). Italian Railways. Newton Abbott, Devon, England: David & Charles. p. 113. ISBN 0-7153-5168-0.
  5. ↑ Facchinelli, L. (1995). La ferrovia Verona-Brennero. Storia della linea e delle stazioni nel territorio (The Verona–Bologna railway, history of the line and its stations) (in Italian). Bolzano: Athesia. pp. 97–98.
  6. ↑ Priante, G. (2006). L'Arena e Verona: 140 anni di storia (The Arena and Verona: 140 years of history) (in Italian). Verona: Athesis. p. 99.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Verona Porta Nuova". Italy’s major stations. Ferrovie dello Stato. Retrieved 22 January 2010.

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