Revised Subway Line Proposal

Post date: Dec 01, 2017 11:34:11 AM

In 2005, the mayor of Venice at the time, Paolo Costa, proposed a subway line from Venice’s Marco Polo Airport to the historic city of Venice. The line was expected to travel from the Airport to the old shipyards in 14 minutes, less than half the time that it takes to travel between the two points by boat. In order to save money and avoid digging under the city center, it was supposed to be constructed entirely underneath the lagoon.

We decided that some aspects of Costa’s proposal, particularly a completely underwater route, made sense. We also decided that the proposed route needed to be revised, since it would primarily serve people traveling to and from the airport, did not stop in highly-populated areas such as Lido and Mestre, and did not connect to any existing transportation hubs besides the airport. Based on the suggestions of our advisors, we proposed a line with the following stops:

• • Lido S.M.E., the major water bus terminal in Lido connecting it to the historic city.

  • Piazza San Marco, a major destination for tourists

  • A station in the middle of the Giudecca canal. From this station, passengers could access both the western end of the island of Giudecca and San Basilio in Venice, where a tram terminal has been proposed, using underwater tunnels.

  • Piazzale Roma, the one point in Venice accessible by car, which is also proximal to the train station in Venice.

  • The Venezia Porto Marghera railway station, a regional railway station on the mainland, from which point passengers could access Mestre either on foot or by regional rail.

When completed, this line would take 15 minutes to travel from end to end, compared to the roughly 50 minutes that it currently takes to travel between these points. We estimated that the line would cost roughly €2.6 billion to construct, including the cost of the pedestrian tunnel underneath the Giudecca canal.

Works Cited

Sylvers, E. (2005, Feb. 23). Venice Underground. Retrieved September 17, 2017, from http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/23/business/venice-underground.html.