Passante Ferroviario di Milano

Passante Ferroviario di Milano
Milano Lancetti station
Overview
Native name	Passante ferroviario di Milano
Status	operational
Owner	RFI
Locale	Milan, Italy
Stations	6
Service
Type	commuter rail
Services	S1, S2, S5, S6, S12, S13
Operator(s)	Trenord
Daily ridership	174,000[1]
History
Opened	1997 (1997)
Technical
Line length	13 km (8.1 mi)
Number of tracks	2
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Electrification	3 kV DC, overhead line
Operating speed	60 km/h (37 mph)
Route map

Diagram
Legend
From Turin and Domodossola 13+316 Milano Certosa Belt line 12+036 Milano Villapizzone opened 2002 FN line to Saronno † 1+911 Milano Bovisa opened 1879 ¦ Ferrovie Nord Milano line from Milano Cadorna FN line to Asso † 0+000 9+734 Milano Lancetti opened 1997 8+410 Milano Porta Garibaldi opened 1963/97 "Passantino" to Greco Pirelli and Milano Lambrate 7+322 Milano Repubblica opened 1997 6+376 Milano Porta Venezia opened 1997 5+063 Milano Dateo opened 2002 3+204 Milano Porta Vittoria opened 2004 Milano Forlanini ~ Pioltello branch ~ Belt line (high) Belt line (low) From Milano Lambrate 0+000 Lambro junction From Milano Lambrate Goods line from Milano Smistamento To Venice (DD / LL) ~ Rogoredo branch ~ Southern belt line 9+567 208+751 Milano Rogoredo To Genoa / Bologna
†: kilometrage on Bovisa branch, measured from Lancetti.

The Passante Ferroviario di Milano is an underground railway which runs through Milan, Italy.^[2]

The first part was opened in 1997 and was completed in 2008.^[3] Its main feature is to be open in its extremities, and to be directly interconnected with the railway system of Lombardy. It is only used by suburban trains operated by Trenord.

The passante is connected with subway lines at Porta Garibaldi station (Line 2 and Line 5), Repubblica station (Line 3), Rogoredo (Line 3), Porta Venezia (Line 1), and Dateo (Line 4).

The railway runs on the same line of the historic Milanese northern railway, which was removed in 1931 when the Milanese railway system was redesigned along with the opening of the grand new Central Station.

"Passante" is the Italian word for "passing" and is used to describe a railway built through a major city, connecting suburban lines. This is modelled on S-Bahn underground junctions built in West Germany in the 1970s.

The idea of a suburban railway network for the city of Milan can be traced back to the 1960s, when the increasing population of the city and the surrounding boroughs made clear the need for a faster and more efficient way to complete medium to longer distance journeys. Designs for an underground railway passing through the city centre were completed at the end of the 1970s, and construction began in 1982, with the work expected to be completed in less than 10 years.^[4]

Actual work proceeded very slowly, taking 15 years just to open the first part of the track from Bovisa to Porta Venezia.^[4][5] From 1997 only a shuttle service was operated on the partially completed track. Two years later the Certosa branch was opened and was completed in 2002 with the opening of the new Villapizzone station. In the same year the Passante was expanded on the south-east to Dateo.^[3]

In 2004, in conjunction with the opening of Porta Vittoria station, the new suburban service was activated.^[6] The cost at that time was already €915 million after 22 years of construction work.^[7]

The railway was completed in 2008 with the connection to the last station, Rogoredo.^[6]

• List of railway lines in Italy

• (in Italian) Fernando Malusardi: Il passante ferroviario di Milano. In: ″Ingegneria Ferroviaria″, July 1982, p. 478–484.

• (in Italian) Official page on Trenord website