In fair Verona where we lay our line?

Verona to Padua - a £4.5 billion train ride

Verona. One of many beautiful cities in Italy. If you’ve never been, we’d recommend it as it doesn’t have the crowds or heat of Rome or the costs of say Venice.

It does have historical associations with the Roman Empire, in the form of its own wonderfully preserved Colosseum (Verona Arena) and literary connections with England’s William Shakespeare, where you can visit a statue of Juliet, and the famed balcony reputedly the inspiration for “Romeo and Juliet” and that famous scene.

There may be some authenticity too in that the cottage with the balcony was built in the 14th century, predating Shakespeare.

Literature and history aside, Verona is making a mark on the rail construction industry with its £4.5 billion rail line that will connect it with Padua. The project is set for completion by 31st December 2026 and it’s begun 6 months ahead of schedule.

It’s great too to see a partnership between the Milanese Webuild group and Hitachi Rail

What is this high speed rail link for? This is a multi-faceted response. Effectively the line will quadruple rail capacity in those regions. It will provide greater environmental-friendly transport of goods from the north and east and reduce pressure on Italy’s overburdened road network.

The bigger picture is attractive too - it will form part of the link between the hubs of Milan and Venice and the wider Mediterranean corridor that connects Spain with the Ukraine. Europe and Asia will be linked too as part of the TEN-T core network.

What’s more attractive still is that the new line means 75% of the Italian population will have access to a high speed rail service.

But what about the endpoint - Padua?

As far as our Raildiary team can recall from studying “Romeo and Juliet” at school, there’s scant mention of Padua in the play. However, “The Taming of the Shrew” is set there. He got many of his ideas from Italian novellas and did set quite a few of his plays in Italy.

Apart from the obvious titles, like “Julius Caesar”, “Coriolanus” and “Antony and Cleopatra”, “Othello” was based in Venice, as was “The Merchant of Venice” and Padua is the setting for his comedy of 1590.

Today, it boasts one of the oldest universities in the world, with Galileo studying there, and there is a marvelous wooden Amphitheatre in the centre, dating from the 16th century. Travelling from Milan to Padua via train is currently a slow affair - but this new rail construction project will speed this up from 135 minutes. Verona is much closer to Padua and Venice and again journey times should be shaved from the current 44 minutes.

If Shakespeare were alive today, with HS2 and Eurostar and the massive investment in rail across the world, he wouldn’t have to read Italian novellas and sonnets for inspiration, he could travel there and see first hand the delights of Italy by rail.

Perhaps too he’d like our app as company en route? Or perhaps not?

In conclusion, the proposed high-speed rail line between Verona and Padua is an ambitious and exciting project for the rail industry in Italy. As the article highlights, the new rail line will provide a range of benefits, including faster travel times, increased capacity, and improved connectivity between cities.

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