The Mediopadana HS station is one of the main high-speed stations in Northern Italy, the only one in line between Milan and Bologna and with a constantly growing passenger traffic (over 2000 per day in 2016, source: RFI).
Parallel to the A1 motorway, the busiest motorway in Italy, it is one of the most visited architectural works in Europe, designed by Santiago Calatrava as part of a wider Reggio Emilia redevelopment project that also includes the three bridges and the motorway exit. It is a steel portal roof structure that covers the viaduct, consisting of 13 different portals that alternate generating a shape reminiscent of a succession of moving waves. Depending on the front, the waves alternate with each other in phase or in phase opposition, generating a quiet front and a more moved one. The project has two levels: the lower level, accessed from the outside, which houses the station’s own services, and the upper level for the tracks. The roofing near the side platforms, designed to protect passengers, provides for an infill between the steel portals, about one metre apart, made of laminated glass panels. Four escalators on each side connect the two levels. Two panoramic elevators have been arranged in the central area. The work has a length of 480 meters, a maximum width of 50 meters and an average height of 20 meters. In the area in front of the station there is a large exchange car park.
