.:. pdf timetables of the Passante (in Italian) at the TreNord website
When traveling by train through London or Paris, you
may run into trouble switching from one station to another. You must
get off your train, take your luggage with you, search for a subway
or a taxi, get on it, and at long last settle down in another train.
This is because when the big train stations of Europe were built,
during the 19th century, every track coming from North, South, East
or West stopped outside the city center.
Underground
tracks
That was the state of the art, and Milan is no exception. Since the
1960s, however, the City Council has being digging tunnels under the
city, so trains coming - say - from Paris (i.e. from the North) can
comfortably go straight under the city center on their way to - say
- Venice (East of Milan). .:. It sounds good, doesn't it? The only problem with this so-called Passante ferroviario (or "Railway Junction") system has been the longwindedness of each and every Italian authority
involved. .:. The Passante has
taken some thirty years to begin its operations, and only since December
1997 a first track of it has become available to the travellers. An
extension to the an already existing railway station, Milano Certosa,
began to operate in 1999. A really new urban station, Dateo, has opened
in June 2002. Another, Porta Vittoria, in December 2004. More have followed.
What you can use
Every day, from early morning till 'round midnight, you can ride trains running from Bruzzano, the Bovisa
railway station (in the northern section of Milan), Dateo
(not far from the city center), the old Fiera, to Rogoredo (on the railway line towards Bologna and Rome), and vice versa.
.:.
These trains are frequent, and take less than forty minutes to cover
the distance. You can ride them free if you don't get out of Milan and have already checked into
the city's subway system or the Ferrovie Nord train network (which
links the town to many places to the North, towards the Lakes).
Another subway line, in fact
The very first stations to become operational along the Passante - like Porta Venezia or Repubblica - are quite
big, as they were designed for international traffic. In fact, however, the Passante simply provides the Milan subway network with another line.
MILAN CITY TOURS
Double-deckers? The San Siro stadium?
The Last Supper?
You can reserve a bus or a specialized tour through our partner Viator.
CiaoMilano is conceived and edited by KIWI, Milano .:.Monica Levy, who created this website, is no longer with us. Her smile is behind this word.