Venezia Santa Lucia railway station

Summary

Venezia Santa Lucia (Italian: Stazione di Venezia Santa Lucia) (IATA: XVQ) is the central station of Venice in the north-east of Italy. It is a terminus and located at the northern edge of Venice's historic city (Italian: Centro storico). The station is one of Venice's two most important railway stations; the other one is Venezia Mestre, a mainline junction station on Venice's mainland district of Mestre. Both Santa-Lucia and Mestre stations are managed by Grandi Stazioni and they are connected to each other by Ponte della Libertà (English: Liberty Bridge).

Venezia Santa Lucia
Railway Station
The station's facade exemplifies rationalist and Fascist architecture
General information
LocationFondamenta Santa Lucia, 30121, Venice, Veneto
Italy
Coordinates45°26′27″N 12°19′15″E / 45.44083°N 12.32083°E / 45.44083; 12.32083
Owned byRete Ferroviaria Italiana
Operated byGrandi Stazioni (Station)
Trenitalia (Train services)
Line(s)Milan–Venice railway
Venice–Trieste railway
Venice–Udine railway
Trento–Venice railway
Platforms23
Other information
IATA codeXVQ
ClassificationPlatinum[1]
History
Opened1861; 163 years ago (1861)
Location
Map
Click on the map for a fullscreen view
View from the northwest

Location edit

Venezia Santa Lucia is located in Cannaregio district, the northernmost of the six historic sestieri (districts) of Venice's historic city. It is situated on the northernmost island and near the western end of the Grand Canal. The station lies at the 267 kilometres (166 mi) mark of the Milan–Venice railway.

A bridge over the Grand Canal, the Ponte degli Scalzi (or Ponte dei Scalzi) (English: Bridge of the Discalced), links the concourse in front of the station with the sestiere of Santa Croce.

Venice's historic city had access only by river boats or railway until 1933 (construction of the road bridge and of Piazzale Roma). Since then, a terminal has been built for road transport with car parks and bus stations.

History edit

 
Steam train from Santa Lucia to Bassano del Grappa, August 1973
 
An Italo train at the station
 
An Intercity Notte train arriving at the station

Construction of Santa Lucia railway station began in 1860 under the Austrian Empire. In order to make room for both the station building and its forecourt, a convent and the Church of Santa Lucia were demolished in 1861. The station in turn took up the name of this church.

The current station building is one of the few modernist buildings facing the Grand Canal. It is the result of a series of plans started up by the rationalist architect Angiolo Mazzoni in 1924 and developed by him over the next decade.

In 1934, a contest for a detailed design for the current station was won by Virgilio Vallot. Between 1936 and 1943, Mazzoni and Vallot collaborated on the construction of the station building; Mazzoni also designed the train hall. The final implementation, however, was undertaken only after the Second World War. In 1952, the station was completed on a design which had been developed by another architect, Paul Perilli.[2]

In 1994 the former goods yard directly to the south west of the station which had been closed in the 1970s and used intermittently as a rail yard ever since was redeveloped to provide extra capacity resulting in 8 extra platforms increasing the total number of platforms from 15 to 23.

In November 2009, work began on the renovation of Santa Lucia station. The renovation programme would include improvements to the use of spaces and the flow of internal transit. In addition, certain architectural elements would be recovered and restored; the atrium would be altered to house several retail spaces. This project was completed in 2012 with a cost of 24 million euros.[3][4]

Features edit

As the current station building is low and wide, it does not dominate its surroundings. The flanks of its façade are decorated with Venetian lions. Behind the façade, there is a sizeable main hall with ticketing facilities, shops, offices and luggage storage facilities. The main hall also leads to the station's 15 internal platforms. (Platforms 16-23 are situated outside in the redeveloped goods yard directly to the south east of the station)

Train services edit

The station is served by the following services:

High-speed

  • High-speed train (Trenitalia Frecciarossa) Venice-Salerno: Venice – Padua – Bologna – Florence – Rome – Naples – Salerno
  • High-speed train (Italo NTV) Venice-Naples: Venice – Padua – Bologna – Florence – Rome – Naples
  • High-speed train (Trenitalia Frecciarossa) Milan-Venice: Venice – Padua – Vicenza – Verona – Peschiera del Garda – Brescia – Milan
  • High-speed train (Trenitalia Frecciarossa) Venice-Rome: Venice – Padua – Bologna – Florence – Rome
  • High-speed train (Trenitalia Frecciargento) Venice-Rome Airport: Venice – Padua – Ferrara – Bologna – Florence – Rome – Rome-Fiumicino "Leonard da Vinci" Airport
  • High-speed train (Trenitalia Frecciargento) Venice-Naples: Venice- Padua – Ferrara – Bologna – Florence – Rome – Naples
  • High-speed train (Trenitalia Frecciabianca) Turin-Venice: Venice – Padua – Vicenza – Verona – Peschiera del Garda – Brescia – Milan – Novara – Vercelli – Turin
  • High-speed train (Trenitalia Frecciabianca) Lecce-Venice: Lecce – Brindisi – Bari – Foggia – Termoli – Pescara – Ancona – Pesaro – Rimini – Bologna – Ferrara – Rovigo – Padua – Venice
  • Night train (Trenitalia Intercity Notte) Trieste-Rome: Trieste/Triest – Gorizia/Görz – Udine – Trevisio – Venice (Santa Lucia) – Venice (Mestre) – Padua – Monselice – Rovigo – Ferrara – Bologna – Arezzo – Chiusi-Chiciano Terme – Rome

Domestic

  • Regional train (Trenitalia Regional Express) Venice-Bologna: Venice – Padua – Monselice – Rovigo – Ferrara – Bologna
  • Regional train (Trenitalia Regional Express) Venice-Verona: Venice – Padua – Vicenza – San Bonifacio – Verona
  • Regional train (Trenitalia Regional) Venice-Verona: Venice – Mira Mirano – Padua – Grisignano di Zocco – Vicenza – San Bonifacio – Verona
  • Regional train (Trenitalia Regional) Venice-Udine: Venice – Treviso – Udine
  • Regional train (Trenitalia Regional) Venice-Conegliano: Venice – Treviso – Conegliano
  • Regional train (Trenitalia Regional) Venice-Portogruaro Caorle: Venice – Medolo – San Donà di Piave – Portogruaro Caorle
  • Regional train (Trenitalia Regional) Venice-Trieste: Venice – Portogruaro Carole – Monfalcone – Trieste/Triest
  • Regional train (Trenitalia Regional) Venice-Trieste via Gorizia: Venice – Treviso – Udine – Gorizia/Görz – Trieste/Triest
  • Regional train (Trenitalia Regional) Venice-Adria: Venice – Piove di Sacco – Adria
  • Regional train (Trenitalia Regional) Venice-Rovigo/Ferrara: Venice – Padua – Monselice – Rovigo – Ferrara
  • Regional train (Trenitalia Regional) Venice-Bassano del Grappa: Venice – Piombino Dese – Castelfranco Veneto – Bassano del Grappa

Cross-border

(D for Germany, A for Austria, F for France, CH for Switzerland, GB for United Kingdom)

On 11 December 2016, all ÖBB EuroNight services were rebranded as "Nightjet".

  • Intercity train (ÖBB Railjet) Venice-Vienna: Venice – Treviso – Udine – Tarvisio – Villach (A) – Klagenfurt (A) – Leoben (A) – Bruck (A) – Wiener Neustadt (A) – Vienna (A)
  • Intercity train (SBB CFF FFS Eurocity) Geneva-Venice: Geneva/Genf (CH) – Lausanne (CH) – Montreux (CH) – Sion (CH) – Brig (CH) – Domodossola – Gallarate – Milan – Brescia – Peschiera del Garda – Verona – Padua – Venice
  • Intercity train (ÖBB Eurocity) Munich-Venice: Munich (D) – Rosenheim (D) – Innsbruck (A) – Brenner (A) – Bolzano – Verona – Venice
  • Night train (ÖBB EuroNight) Vienna-Venice: Vienna (A) – Wiener Neustadt (A) – Sankt-Pölten (A) – Linz (A) – Salzburg (A) – Villach (A) – Udine – Conegliano – Treviso – Venice
  • Tourist train (Venice-Simplon Orient Express) Venice-London: Venice – Verona – Innsbruck (A) – Paris (East) (F) – London (Victoria) (GB)
Preceding station   Trenitalia   Following station
toward Salerno
FrecciarossaTerminus
FrecciargentoTerminus
FrecciargentoTerminus
FrecciabiancaTerminus
toward Lecce
FrecciabiancaTerminus
toward Munich Hbf
EuroCityTerminus
EuroCityTerminus
toward Wien Hbf
RailjetTerminus
toward Munich
EuroNightTerminus
toward Wien Hbf
EuroNightTerminus
toward Roma Termini
Intercity Notte
Treno regionaleTerminus
Treno regionaleTerminus
Treno regionale
via Portogruaro
Terminus
Treno regionale
via Udine
Terminus
toward Ferrara
Treno regionaleTerminus
Treno regionaleTerminus
Treno regionale
via Udine
Terminus
toward Bassano del Grappa
Treno regionaleTerminus
Treno regionaleTerminus
Preceding station   Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori   Following station
toward Salerno
ItaloTerminus
Preceding station   Venice-Simplon Orient Express   Following station
Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof
towards London Victoria
  Venice-Simplon Orient Express   Terminus
Preceding station   Sistemi Territoriali   Following station
toward Adria
Treno regionaleTerminus

Traffic edit

The station is used by about 82,000 passengers per day, or a total of around 30 million passengers per annum.[2]

Every day, approximately 450 trains stop at the station.[2] Long-distance trains use the central platforms, and the regional and suburban platforms are located to the west.

The station is the terminus of several famous trains, including the Venice Simplon Orient Express.

Interchange edit

Overview edit

The station is connected with the rest of Venice by the Vaporetto (public water bus) or private water taxi boats. The nearby Piazzale Roma is the departure point for all car services and taxis for the mainland.

Vaporetto lines in the transit station edit

The stop (dock) is called Ferrovia and is served by eight ACTV Vaporetto lines:

  • 1 P.le Roma – Ferrovia – Rialto – San Marco – Lido
  • 2 San Zaccaria – Giudecca – Tronchetto – P.le Roma – Ferrovia – Rialto – San Marco – (Lido)
  • 4.1 Murano – F.te Nove – Ferrovia – P.le Roma – Giudecca – San Zaccaria – F.te Nove – Murano
  • 4.2 Murano – F.te Nove – San Zaccaria – Giudecca – P.le Roma – Ferrovia – F.te Nove – Murano
  • 5.1 Lido – F.te Nove – Ferrovia – P.le Roma – San Zaccaria – Lido
  • 5.2 Lido – San Zaccaria – P.le Roma – Ferrovia – F.te Nove – Lido
  • 3 Murano – Ferrovia – P.le Roma (direct line)
  • N San Zaccaria – Giudecca – Tronchetto – P.le Roma – Ferrovia – Rialto – San Marco – Lido (night line)

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ List of Italian stations and categories Archived 2013-10-13 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ a b c "Venezia S. Lucia". Grandi Stazioni official website. Archived from the original on 16 May 2009. Retrieved 8 October 2010.
  3. ^ "Venezia S. Lucia – New project". Grandi Stazioni official website. Archived from the original on 17 May 2009. Retrieved 8 October 2010.
  4. ^ "Al via i lavori di restyling della stazione ferroviaria di Santa Lucia" [Work begins on the restyling of Santa Lucia station.]. Comune Venezia official website (in Italian). Archived from the original on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 8 October 2010.

External links edit

  Media related to Venezia Santa Lucia at Wikimedia Commons

  • "Grandi Stazioni SpA" official website (in Italian)
  • Stazioni del Mondo – Description and images of Venezia Santa Lucia station (in Italian)