This design by architect Santiago Calatrava is the element that characterises this city and its strategic location emphasises its role as a “doorway” essential to regional, domestic and international mobility.
Reggio Emilia Mediopadana HS Station is the only one on the High Speed line between Milan and Bologna and is around 4 kilometres from the centre of Reggio Emilia. The new railway structure, alongside the A1 motorway and the busiest in Italy, is one of the most viewed architectural works in Europe.
The station is a steel building that covers the HS line, passenger platforms and the escalator and lift areas leading to the ground floor.
The station has two levels: the lower level can be reached from outdoors and comprises station facilities; the upper level is occupied by rail tracks. These two levels are connected by 2 escalators, one each side, and there are 2 glass lifts in the centre. The roof has a repeated succession of 13 alternating portals that generate a succession of 457 moving waves.
These waves alternate in phase or in anti-phase, thereby forming a calm face and a rougher face depending on the perspective. Interior lighting at night highlights this wave movement, making the structure look like a lantern. The roof over the side platforms is made of layered glass installed between the steel portals, which are located one metre from each other.
Reggio Emilia Mediopadana HS Station is an important intermodal exchange hub thanks to interconnection with local and regional railway lines and can also be easily reached by road and motorway.
The strategic location of this HS Station involves a potential user base of 2 million customers from the provinces of Reggio Emilia, Parma, Modena and Mantova. The Reggio Emilia A1 motorway toll-gate is just 2 kilometres away. The new railway infrastructure is connected to one of the stops on the Reggio – Bagnolo Metro service currently under completion, which will allow passengers to reach Reggio Emilia Mediopadana HS station in just a few minutes. The local road system also reaches the Mediopadana station via the Ring Road and Via Morandi, the Reggio Emilia – Bagnolo main road from the north and Via Gramsci from the centre.
Mediopadana HS station has facilities for transit passengers and for those heading for the city: a stop specifically for the local Reggio – Guastalla railway line (providing direct connection with the conventional FS railway line), urban and extra-urban bus stops, taxis, car parks and car and bicycle rentals.