If Venice seems frozen in time, this is not quite the case for its railway lines. Two parallel projects will provide new connections for the former City of the Doges with its neighbours and airport. Starting with a project for a high-speed train between Venice, Trieste and LjubljanaSlovenia's capital, a 240 km line.
Despite sharing a common border, notably at Trieste, Italy and Slovenia are not linked by a direct train. This was the case in the past. During the Austro-Hungarian era, the Vienna-Venice line included stops in Ljubljana and Trieste. Until 2008, a regional train still linked Trieste to Ljubljana.
11 December, tests were carried out by the Italian rail operator Trenitalia between Venice and Sezananear the Italian border. This trial should finally bring to fruition the project for a rail link between the city of Trieste and the Slovenian capital, which had been envisaged in 2021. However, this project never materialised.
If the trial is successful, it should help the reintroduction of this cross-border service in April 2024. The train would depart from Venice-Mestre and reach Villa Opicina, near Trieste, before continuing on to Ljubljana.. A bus journey between the Slovenian capital and Venice currently takes an average of 3h30 to 4h00. A rail link should reduce the journey to less than 3 hours, almost on a par with the car.. " The time seems right to re-establish a cross-border service between the two countries" FS Italiane, Italy's national railway company, stated on its website.
From station to airport
Another major project is a rail link with theVenice airport. It would strengthen the hub role of the north-eastern Italian air hub. Venice is the Italy's fourth-largest airport with an annual passenger volume in excess of 10 million.
The project involves the construction of a new section of line around 8 km long, which would connect to the historic Venice-Trieste line, and the construction of a new section of line between Venice and Trieste. new "Venice-Airport" underground station. The airport would thus be linked by train directly to the whole of Veneto and Northern Italy, as well as to Trieste and potentially Slovenia. The construction of the linewhose investment represents 644 million euros, to be completed by mid-2025 for commissioning at the end of that year.
