Italy-led rail upgrades reshape Europe’s travel map

ROME — Four major rail infrastructure projects centered in Italy are poised to reshape Europe’s travel map, accelerating passenger service between metropolitan centers and moving freight from roads to rails. On Thursday, workers are set to begin drilling and blasting to open the first tunnel that will connect Austria and Italy under the Brenner Pass, a milestone in a package of projects that supporters say will redefine how people travel and goods move across northern and central Europe.

The Brenner Base Tunnel is the centerpiece of the plan. When complete, it will run about 55 kilometers (34 miles) between Tulfes, Austria, and Fortezza, Italy, extending to roughly 64 kilometers (nearly 40 miles) with the inclusion of existing tunnels from Tulfes to Innsbruck. The project is estimated to cost about 8.8 billion euros (nearly $10.5 billion) and is expected to be completed by 2031, with the first train traversing it in 2032. Italy, Austria and the European Union co-fund the effort, which began in 2014. The Brenner route is one of Europe’s busiest Alpine north–south corridors, carrying more than 2.5 million trucks a year on the Brenner Pass, and officials say the tunnel could shift up to half of that heavy truck traffic to rail as rail capacity expands.

Beyond the Brenner project, Italy is moving ahead with three other major undertakings that would alter intercity travel times and freight patterns across the continent. A 53-kilometer (33-mile) high-speed line links Genoa with Tortona in Piedmont, connecting to Milan and the broader northern network. Of that corridor, 37 kilometers (23 miles) are tunnels, including a particularly long main bore. The line is designed to shift goods flows away from Ligurian ports—Genoa, La Spezia and Savona—toward northern Europe and, crucially, reduce travel times for passengers. The project carries a price tag of about 8.5 billion euros (roughly $10 billion) and is about 90% complete. Construction began in 2012, but geologic challenges in the Apennines, including asbestos discovery in some layers, slowed progress.

The Lyon–Turin High-Speed Rail Tunnel, another pillar, would extend more than 65 kilometers (40 miles) with the Mont Cenis base tunnel running roughly 57.5 kilometers (36 miles) underground, linking Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, France, with Susa, Italy. With a projected cost of about 11 billion euros (about $13 billion), the project aims to remove more than 1 million heavy goods vehicles from roads across the western Alps. Its completion is targeted for around 2033. The line would shorten the Paris–Milan journey to about 4 hours and 30 minutes from the current 6½–7½ hours. Work on this project began in 2007 but faced environmental protests in Italy; it is co-funded by France, Italy and the EU.

The 13.5 billion-euro Strait of Messina Bridge would finally connect the Italian mainland with Sicily, incorporating rail connections to Palermo and Catania that are being upgraded. The single-span bridge would stretch from Messina, Sicily, to Villa San Giovanni, Calabria, and would include six car lanes and two rail lines. Italy’s government is awaiting final approval by the court of audits to begin preliminary work, with a target completion around 2032.

Together, these four projects are the most ambitious single-set upgrades to the Italian rail system since the Rome–Milan high-speed line opened in 2008, a project that helped shrink the Rome–Milan airline market as rail became faster and more reliable. In addition to the four major schemes, Italy’s rail network includes some 40 strategic projects funded in part by roughly 25 billion euros in European Union pandemic recovery funds. Among other planned improvements is a high-speed line between Naples and Bari, expanding high-speed travel across the heel of the Italian boot.

Taken together, the package aims to deliver faster cross-border rail service and steer freight away from congested highways. Proponents say the Brenner, Genoa–Tortona, Lyon–Turin and Messina projects would redraw Europe’s rail map by 2030–2032, with Verona–Munich travel times dropping about 40% to around three hours and Milan–Paris times shrinking by roughly one-half to about 4½ hours. Genoa’s connection to Milan would bring the Ligurian port city within a rail commute of Italy’s financial center, a development that could alter freight flows as well as passenger travel.

The broader strategy centers on shifting freight from trucks to rail, a goal that could ease bottlenecks on major corridors and reduce highway wear and emissions. As the EU pours funds into these upgrades, officials say the network would serve as the backbone for a more integrated European rail network—one capable of carrying more passengers and more freight with faster, more reliable service. While the exact funding mix and timetables may still evolve amid permitting, technical, and environmental reviews, officials say the trajectory remains clear: by the early 2030s, the Italian-led projects are expected to upend the way Europeans move across the continent.