European Railroad Discussion > Milano Centrale

This is one of the world's great stations and I finally made some time to take a few images of its architectural features. Mussolini at his grandest. The first picture is the main hall, with trains to the right and two grand entry halls flanking a ticket hall to the left. The second picture is some architectural detail. The third is one of the grand entry halls of which there are two with the ticket hall in between. Like all the principal Italian railway stations Milano Centrale is a busy place, but it is big enough to handle the crowds with some reasonable level of comfort. There are actually places to sit down, quiet places away from the bustle, and some upscale places to eat. If only the self service ticket machines would work properly

JBWX



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/02/14 08:10 by jbwest.

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jbwest Wrote:
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If only the self service ticket machines would work properly.
JBWX
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Il Duce would fix that. Gerry

Il Duce had his ticket punched over and over in the 40's. Permanently

Centrale's cornerstone was laid in 1906, six years before the design (patterned after Union Station in Washington, DC) was finalized, and completed in 1931 with the dictator's final touch included.

Did you look at the intricate designs in the terrazzo floor, especially the flanged wheel with wings?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/02/14 08:38 by Labiche.

Labiche Wrote:
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> Centrale's cornerstone was laid in 1906, six years
> before the design (patterned after Union Station
> in Washington, DC) was finalized, and completed in
> 1931 with the dictator's final touch included.
>
> Did you look at the intricate designs in the
> terrazzo floor, especially the flanged wheel with
> wings?


Which begs the question, what served Milan as a raileoad station prior to that, a semi-complete Centrale or an earlier terminal(s)?

eminence_grise Wrote:
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> Labiche Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Centrale's cornerstone was laid in 1906, six
> years
> > before the design (patterned after Union
> Station
> > in Washington, DC) was finalized, and completed
> in
> > 1931 with the dictator's final touch included.
> >
> > Did you look at the intricate designs in the
> > terrazzo floor, especially the flanged wheel
> with
> > wings?
>
>
> Which begs the question, what served Milan as a
> raileoad station prior to that, a semi-complete
> Centrale or an earlier terminal(s)?

There is a bit of history on Wikipedia, and apparently the prior station was Porta Nuova. According the Wikipedia the corner stone for Centrale was laid before there even was a plan. And not much happened until 1925. One of the things I found fascinating about Milano Centrale are the huge what I would call interlocking or control towers on the approach that apparently are abandoned in place. There seems to be a tremendous amount of infrastructure from the steam age that is just abandoned, derelict, and ugly but fascinating. The terminal itself is well maintained.

JBWX

eminence_grise Wrote:
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> Which begs the question, what served Milan as a
> railroad station prior to that, a semi-complete
> Centrale or an earlier terminal(s)?

There were three predecessors; The first was Milano Porta Nuova opened by the Imperiale Regno Privilegiata Strada Ferrata da Milano a Monza in 1840 on a site near the current Porta Garibaldi station. At this time the region was controlled by the Austrians. That was replaced by a larger station with the same name at the same location in 1850. In turn that was followed by the first Milano Centrale built in 1864 near the site of the current Milano Repubblica station. Up to this point these stations served only the Milano to Monza and Como(plus Chiasso) services. The current Milano Centrale was built further north as the city grew and it became harder to find sufficient space for a station of a size to accommodate all Intercity services in all directions.

jbwest Wrote:
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> One of the
> things I found fascinating about Milano Centrale
> are the huge what I would call interlocking or
> control towers on the approach that apparently are
> abandoned in place. There seems to be a
> tremendous amount of infrastructure from the steam
> age that is just abandoned, derelict, and ugly but
> fascinating. The terminal itself is well
> maintained.
>
> JBWX

I might have posted these before, but here are some images from 1969. Note the lower quadrant semaphores at the end of each platform! I took them while waiting fir the student train back to Calais. We were pulled by a French/American 2-8-2 (class 141R) for the last 50 miles to Calais!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/04/14 05:02 by spflow.

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GPutz Wrote:
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> jbwest Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> If only the self service ticket machines would
> work properly.
> JBWX
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> Il Duce would fix that. Gerry

I never went through Milano C.le, but generally found the ticket machines to be reliable at Termini in Rome, although I did not use them often. I lived in Rome 2001-2007 and found the online ticketing system reliable and superior to what Amtrak had at the time. For reserved trains all you needed was a reservation number that could be sent to your "telefonino." I also had an annual transit pass that was good on local trains (up to certain points on the lines).

It's interesting to me that architects of that era were inspired by some of the great buildings of the Roman Empire, such as the Baths of Caracalla. Tastes appear to have changed by the 1930s, and much of the architecture during that period of the Mussolini era is strikingly different.

dcfbalcoS1 Wrote:
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> Il Duce had his ticket punched over and over in
> the 40's. Permanently


But Il Duce did get the Italian trains to run on time.