The countdown has begun for the realisation of the quadrupling of the Brenner railway line north of Verona. The occasion is marked by the launch of the public debate procedure on 18 June 2025, with Rfi set to present its final version of the project. At the end of this participatory process, open to all interested parties – including individual citizens – and due to conclude in December 2025, a final report will be published on Rfi's official website and communicated to the Ministry of Transport as well as to the various relevant public authorities.
Any hopes for a short construction timeline should be tempered, however. Excluding the planning and validation stages, the construction work is expected to last around seven years, meaning the best-case scenario would see completion by 2032. This would align with current forecasts for the opening of the Brenner Base Tunnel. The investment for the Verona node alone will exceed one billion euros.
The section covered by the quadrupling measures stretches for about 9.5 kilometres, from the San Massimo junction in the Verona railway hub to the Pescantina junction, north of the city. This project is one of four strategic upgrades deemed essential for strengthening the entire Italian side of the Brenner corridor up to the southern entrance of the base tunnel at Fortezza. Currently under contract and under construction are the Fortezza–Ponte Gardena variant and the Trento freight bypass. Alongside Verona, a project for Bolzano is in the design phase, while the proposal for Rovereto remains on hold.
The intervention on the Verona rail junction is particularly significant for boosting freight train traffic. The relatively short length of the new section – just under ten kilometres – is deceptive, as it starts at one of the key freight transport points, the San Massimo junction, near the Quadrante Europa terminal. Here, the infrastructure will be enhanced and new lines will be connected to all relevant freight sidings. This is the convergence point of two independent freight tracks branching off from the Milan–Verona line, which is itself undergoing changes due to the new high-speed rail connection from Brescia, including a dedicated freight alignment.
The project involves several engineering structures, including the 1,833-metre San Massimo tunnel, 430 metres of viaducts, and more than six kilometres of embankments and cuttings. The quadrupling in the Verona junction includes a three-kilometre section built entirely on a new route, partially underground, with the dismantling of a portion of the existing line, while the remaining works run closely alongside the historic track. The project will be carried out in phases, with each new functional section opened to service as it is completed.
Once the works are finished, the Verona node will have considerably enhanced capacity. For instance, peak-hour projections suggest a maximum of 19 trains could circulate through the San Massimo junction. The new line will meet the highest standards in terms of axle load and loading gauge for intermodal transport. However, some compromises are unavoidable, due to objective constraints or future developments along the Brenner corridor, which are far from imminent. For example, north of the San Massimo junction, freight trains will face certain diverging routes limited to a maximum speed of 60 km/h. Likewise, the Pescantina junction, which marks the northern end of this phase of the Verona–Brenner quadrupling, will only become fully functional once the two new tracks have been extended to the base tunnel. For now, it still transitions from the upgraded track to the older, two-track section.
Piermario Curti Sacchi
