Bologna Centrale is the main

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. The station is situated at the northern edge of the city centre. It is located at the southern end of the Milan-Bologna high-speed line, which opened on 13 December 2008, and the northern end of three lines between Bologna and Florence: the original Bologna-Florence line through Porretta Terme and Pistoia; the Bologna–Florence Direttissima via Prato, which opened on 22 April 1934 and the Bologna-Florence high-speed line, which opened to traffic on 13 December 2009. Bologna Centrale is the fifth-busiest in Italy in terms of passenger movements (about 58 million passengers per year). It is, however, one of the busiest, along with Rome Termini Station, for the number of train movements per day (about 800). The station is linked to

Bologna Guglielmo Marconi Airport Bologna Guglielmo Marconi Airport () is an international airport serving the city of Bologna in Italy. It is approximately northwest of the city centre in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. The airport is named after Bologna native Guglielmo ...

by the Marconi Express, a direct

monorail A monorail is a Rail transport, railway in which the track consists of a single rail or beam. Colloquially, the term "monorail" is often used to describe any form of elevated rail or people mover. More accurately, the term refers to the style ...

line in length, launched on 18 November 2020.

Station

There are two levels of railway tracks within the station complex: Bologna Centrale and Bologna Centrale (AV) ''alta velocità (high speed)''. The central part of Bologna Centrale contains through tracks for high-speed trains (except Frecciarossa trains which travel only on the Milan-Bologna high-speed line), intercity and regional trains. In addition, there are two groups of side tracks: the western side has six tracks for regional trains from Milan or Verona (with Bologna Centrale as a terminus) and the eastern side has six tracks for regional trains from Prato, Ancona and Pescara (with Bologna Centrale as a terminus).

Bologna Centrale (AV)

In July 2008,

Andrea Maffei Andrea Maffei (1798 – 1885) was an Italian poet, translator and librettist. He was born in Molina di Ledro, Trentino. A follower of Vincenzo Monti, he formed part of the 19th-century Italian classicist literary culture. Gaining laurea in ju ...

Architects,

Arata Isozaki Arata Isozaki (磯崎新, ''Isozaki Arata''; 23 July 1931 – 28 December 2022) was a Japanese architect, urban designer, and theorist from Ōita, Ōita, Ōita. He was awarded the Royal Gold Medal in 1986 and the Pritzker Architecture Prize i ...

& Associates,

Ove Arup & Partners Arup Group Limited, trading as Arup, is a British multinational professional services firm headquartered in London that provides design, engineering, architecture, planning, and advisory services across every aspect of the built environment. ...

and M + T & Partners won a competition to design a new station, Bologna Centrale (AV), for high-speed trains between Milan and Florence. The proposal was selected by architect

Gae Aulenti Gaetana "Gae" Emilia Aulenti (; 4 December 1927 – 31 October 2012) was an Italian architect and designer. Aulenti began her career in the early 1950s, establishing herself as one of the few prominent female architects in post-war Italy. Alth ...

, as president of the International Competition Jury, and

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 ...

, the main entity behind the competition. The station uses light in its design, with the internal courtyards of the bridged station creating poles of light. Inside the station it is possible to see the levels below, and different shapes of windows were designed for the courtyards. The new, three-level, railway station was built underneath the current station. It is long and wide, and consists of three below-ground levels. The first level, at is for parking, pick-ups and drop-offs. The second level, at , is a shopping arcade. The lowest level, at , consists of four high-speed train platforms (lines 16 to 19). The underground platforms opened for passenger service on 9 June 2013. Together with the reinstatement of four surface tracks, which were removed to facilitate construction, the project is due to be completed by 2016. The expected cost was €340 million. This high-speed station is connected by a series of walkways and elevators to the central part. Transfer time is approximately 10 minutes on foot.

History

The first Bologna Centrale station was constructed in 1859, though its history is unclear. A new station was built twelve years later on the same grounds. The modern station was designed and built by architect Gaetano Ratti, who trained in the local

Clementine Academy The Accademia di Belle Arti di Bologna ('academy of fine arts of Bologna') is a public tertiary academy of fine art in Bologna, Italy. It has a campus in Cesena. Giorgio Morandi taught engraving at the Accademia for more than 25 years. Hist ...

. Inspired by the neoclassical style, the station's distinctive 15th century façade opens in nine entrance doors. The main passenger building is reminiscent of

renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

Florentine architecture. Until the 1940s, it was topped by a clock tower with marble pillars, but the tower was damaged by allied bombings in the Second World War and not rebuilt. The original design called for a rectangular shaped, two-faced building, with a marble external façade and a steel internal one. Subsequent extension works, such as the 1926 building of the westbound platforms, shaped the station into the “L” form, typical of expanded transit stations. The introduction of new platforms at the eastern half in 1934, brought another change to the station's configuration.

1980 terrorist bombing

On 2 August 1980 at 10.25 am, an

improvised explosive device An improvised explosive device (IED) is a bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional warfare, conventional military action. It may be constructed of conventional military explosives, such as an artillery shell, attached t ...

(IED) made with of a

TNT Troponin T (shortened TnT or TropT) is a part of the troponin complex, which are proteins integral to the contraction of skeletal and heart muscles. They are expressed in skeletal and cardiac myocytes. Troponin T binds to tropomyosin and helps ...

mixture was detonated inside Bologna's main railway station. The IED was contained in a suitcase, which was placed near the wall inside a lobby. The explosion killed 85 people and injured more than 200. The wing of the station in which the bomb was detonated has been reconstructed but, as a testimony to the victims of the attack, the original pavement was maintained as well as a deep crack in the main wall. The attack is also known in Italy as the ''Strage di Bologna'', the ''

Bologna massacre The Bologna massacre () was a Terrorism in Italy, terrorist bombing of the Bologna Centrale railway station in Bologna, Italy, on the morning of 2 August 1980, which killed 85 people and wounded over 200. Several members of the neo-fascist ter ...

''. The Italian government immediately accused the Italian neo-fascist militant groups for the attack; however this was denied by the group, and no one ever claimed responsibility. After 15 years, official investigation has determined that the attack was carried out by a small

neo-fascist Neo-fascism is a post-World War II far-right ideology which includes significant elements of fascism. Neo-fascism usually includes ultranationalism, ultraconservatism, racial supremacy, right-wing populism, authoritarianism, nativism, xe ...

group, call ''

Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari The Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari (), abbreviated NAR, was an Italian neofascist, neo-fascist armed militant organization active during the Years of Lead (Italy), Years of Lead from 1977 to November 1981. It committed over 100 murders in four year ...

''. Many conspiracy theories regarding this event have been entertained, including a link between this act of terrorism and the loss of

Itavia Flight 870 On 27 June 1980, Itavia Flight 870 (IH 870, AJ 421), a Douglas DC-9 passenger jet en route from Bologna to Palermo, Italy, crashed into the Tyrrhenian Sea between the islands of Ponza and Ustica at 20:59 CEST, killing all 81 occupants on board ...

Train services

The following services call at the station (incomplete):

Domestic (High-speed) AV Station

* High-speed train (

Trenitalia Trenitalia Società per azioni, SpA is the primary train operator of Italy. A subsidiary of Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, itself owned by the Italian government. It was established in 2000 following a European Union directive on the deregulati ...

Frecciarossa) Turin-Salerno: Turin - Milan - Bologna - Florence - Rome - Naples - Salerno * High-speed train (

Frecciargento) Bolzano/Bozen-Rome: Bolzano/Bozen - Trento/Trient - Verona - Bologna - Florence - Rome * High-speed train ( Italo NTV) Turin-Salerno: Turin (Porta Susa) - Milan (Porto Garibaldi) - Bologna - Florence - Rome (Tiburtina) - Naples - Salerno * High-speed train ( Italo NTV) Venice-Salerno: Venice - Padua - Bologna - Florence - Rome (Tiburtina) - Naples - Salerno * High-speed train ( Italo NTV) Brescia-Naples: (Brescia) - Verona - Bologna - Florence - Rome - Naples

Domestic (High-speed)

* High-speed train (

Frecciarossa) Venice-Naples: Venice - Padua - (Ferrara) - Verona - Bologna - Florence - Rome - Naples * High-speed train (

Frecciarossa) Venice-Rome/Rome Airport: Venice - Padua - (Ferrara) - Verona - Bologna - Florence - Rome - Rome-Fiumicino 'Leonardo da Vinci' Airport * High-speed train ( Italo) Turin-Ancona: Turin (Porta Susa) - Milan (Porto Garibaldi) - Bologna - Rimini - Ancona * High speed train (

Frecciarossa) Milan-Bari: Milan - Bologna - Rimini - Ancona - Pescara - Foggia – Bari * High-speed train (

Frecciargento) Brescia-Rome: Brescia - Verona - Bologna - Florence - Rome * High-speed train (

Frecciabianca) Milan-Lecce: Milan - Parma - Modena - Bologna - Rimini - Ancona - Pescara - Foggia - Bari - Brindisi - Lecce * High-speed train (

Frecciabianca) Milan-Bari/Taranto: Milan - Parma - Modena - Bologna - Rimini - Ancona - Pescara - Foggia - Bari - Taranto * High-speed train (

Frecciabianca) Venice-Lecce: Venice - Padua - Verona - Bologna - Rimini - Ancona - Pescara - Foggia - Bari - Brindisi - Lecce

Domestic

* Night train (

Intercity Notte) Trieste/Triest-Rome: Trieste/Triest - Venice - Padua - Verona - Bologna - Florence - Rome * Night train (

Intercity Notte) Milan-Lecce: Milan - Parma - Bologna - Rimini - Ancona - Pescara - Foggia - Bari - (Taranto) - Brindisi - Lecce * Night train (

Intercity Notte) Turin-Lecce: Turin - Alessandria - Bolgona - Rimini - Ancona - Pescara - Foggia - Bari - Brindisi - Lecce * Night train (

Intercity Notte) Turin-Reggio di Calabria: Turin - Milan - Bologna - Florence - Rome - Naples - Salerno - Lamezia Terme - Reggio di Calabria * Night train (

Intercity Notte) Bolzano/Bozen-Rome: Bolzano/Bozen - Trento/Trient - Verona - Bologna - Florence - Rome * Intercity train (

Intercity) Milan-Lecce: Milan - Parma - Modena - Bologna - Rimini - Ancona - Pescara - Foggia - Bari - Brindisi - Lecce * Intercity train (

Intercity) Milan-Naples: Milan - Parma - Modena - Bologna - Prato - Florence - Arezzo - Rome - Latina - Naples * Intercity train (

Intercity) Trieste/Triest-Rome: Trieste/Triest - Venice - Padua - Ferrara - Bologna - Prato - Florence - Arezzo - Rome * Intercity train (

Intercity) Bologna-Lecce: Bologna - Rimini - Ancona - Pescara - Foggia - Bari - Brindisi - Lecce * Intercity train (

Intercity) Bologna-Bari/Taranto: Bologna - Rimini - Ancona - Pescara - Foggia - Bari - Taranto * Regional train (

Regional) Bologna-Venice: Bologna - Ferrara - Rovigo - Padua - Venice * Regional train (

Regional) Bologna-Voghera: Voghera - Piacenza - Parma - Modena - Bologna * Regional train (

Regional Express) Piacenza-Ancona: (Milan) - Piacenza - Parma - Reggio Emilia - Modena - Bologna - Forli - Rimini - Ancona * Regional train (

Regional) Bologna-Brennero/Brenner: Bologna - Mirandola - Poggio Rusco - Ostiglia - Nogara - Isola della Scala - Verona - Ala/Ahl-am-Etsch - Rovereto/Rofreit - Trento/Trient - Mezzocorona/Kronmetz - Ora/Auer - Bolzano/Bozen - Ponte Gardena/Waidbruck - Chiusa/Klausen - Bressanone/Brixen - Fortezza/Franzensfeste - Vipiteno/Sterzing - Brennero/Brenner * Regional train (

Regional) Bologna-Prato: Bologna - Prato * Regional train (

Regional) Bologna-Porretta Terme: Bologna - Borgonuovo - Porretta Terme * Regional train (

Regional) Bologna/Modena-Mantua: (Bologna) - Modena - Suzzara - Mantua

Cross-border

(A for Austria, D for Germany, F for France, GB for Great Britain) * Intercity train (

ÖBB The Austrian Federal Railways ( , formally or () and formerly the or ''BBÖ'' ), now commonly known as ÖBB (), is the national railway company of Austria, and the administrator of Liechtenstein's railways. The ÖBB group i ...

EuroCity) Munich-Verona/Bologna: Bologna - Verona - Rovereto/Rofreit - Trento/Trient - Bolzano/Bozen - Bressanone/Brixen - Fortezza/Franzensfeste - Brennero/Brenner - Innsbruck(A) - Jenbach(A) - Kufstein(A) - Munich(D) * Night train (DB

CityNightLine CityNightLine AG (timetable and platform sign abbreviation: CNL) was a Swiss night train service. CNL had right of passage grants in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland and Denmark. It served stations in Belgium, France, Italy and t ...

) Rome/Milan-Munich: (Rome) - (Florence) - (Bologna) - Verona - Trento/Trient - Bolzano/Bozen - Innsbruck(A) - Jenbach(A) - Kufstein(A) - Munich(D) * Night train (

EuroNight) Rome/Milan-Vienna: (Rome) - (Livorno) - Florence - Bologna - Verona - Padua - Venice - Villach(A) - Klagenfurt(A) - Vienna(A) * Tourist train (

Venice-Simplon Orient Express The ''Venice Simplon-Orient-Express'' (VSOE) is a private luxury train service from London to Venice and other European cities. It is currently owned by Belmond. These VSOE services are not to be confused with a regularly scheduled train cal ...

) Rome-London: Rome - Florence - Bologna - Verona - Innsbruck(A) - Paris (East)(F) - London(GB)

Nearby public transport

The Marconi Express

links the station to

, with an intermediate stop at Lazzaretto. The Marconi Express terminal is located within the station complex. The station's outside terminal is also one of the most important bus interchanges of Bologna and has stops also near the High-Speed platforms: *Rail Replacement Buses to Ferrara, Parma, Vignola, Portomaggiore, Prato and San Benedetto Val di Sambro *Urban Bus Routes C, D, 21, 25, 25A, 30, 35, 36, 37, 38 and 39 by TPER *Urban Trolleybus Routes 15, 32 and 33 by TPER *Suburban Bus Routes 81, 81A, 87, 87A, 91 and 91A by TPER and TPB subcompanies *Special Bus Routes Q, 77 and 975 by TPER *Interurban Bus Routes 671 and 677 by TPER

References

External links

* *
Bologna Centrale
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bologna Centrale Railway Station Railway stations in Bologna Railway stations in Italy opened in 1864 Railway stations in Italy opened in 2013