Location intelligence is laying the groundwork for a new generation of Italian rail stations that are technically sophisticated, environmentally responsible, and deeply responsive to the people they serve.<\/p>\r\n
Key Takeaways<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n To appreciate why\u2014and how\u2014Italy is spending billions to renew hundreds of its railway stations, consider a hidden problem plaguing one of the country\u2019s busiest hubs.<\/p>\r\n A few years ago, a team of analysts for the national railway company was studying how commuters traveled to and around Roma Trastevere, a station near Rome's city center that was last renovated in 1911. Most Italian train riders walk to stations and will typically tolerate a 15-minute walk, research indicates. But surveys of Roma Trastevere travelers found that pedestrians coming from some neighborhoods faced a circuitous half-hour walk along a busy road to reach the main entrance. Despite the station\u2019s bustling northern side serving the vibrant neighborhood of Trastevere, the southern streetscape was effectively turning away thousands of people each day from neighborhoods like Marconi and Monteverde.<\/p>\r\n \u201cWe were forgetting all the people that lived and worked around there,\u201d said Luigi Contestabile, the head of station services development for Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI), the public company that manages Italy\u2019s rail infrastructure for the national rail carrier, Ferrovie dello Stato (FS).<\/p>\r\n But they could see them on their map, a geographic information system (GIS) with 400 individual layers, from train lines to tree cover to taxi stands to demographic data. \u201cWe know who lives in the area [and] works in the area, broken down by their type of job,\u201d said Contestabile. Then there\u2019s hospitals, schools, businesses of all kinds, museums, tourist destinations, trade fairs, stadiums, parks, UNESCO sites, and much more.\u201d<\/p>\r\n This location-specific analysis helped planners make the argument to rail leaders and city authorities for taking on the challenging proposition of digging under ancient streets to build a tunnel, opening up the station to the south. \u201cIf we hadn\u2019t had this way of looking at the city, we would have never made that underpass,\u201d Contestabile said.<\/p>\r\nThe refurbishments\u2014part of an ambitious, multibillion-euro upgrade to Italy\u2019s rail system\u2014also signaled a new way of looking at the entire railway: using maps and analysis from GIS technology."},{"acf_fc_layout":"gallery","gallery_images":[754592,754542,754602,754582]},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" Central to RFI\u2019s efforts is the conviction that a rail station isn't just a place to catch a train, but should be a vibrant hub of economic and civic activity, carefully integrated into their surroundings.<\/p>\r\n \u201cFor decades, rail infrastructure managers have focused their attention on the tracks, leaving the stations in the shadows,\u201d Contestabile said. \u201cAnd what was happening outside the stations seemed to concern us only in part.\u201d<\/p>\r\n But better mapping and location data have changed that way of thinking. The planning team at RFI developed an advanced mapping and analytics platform known as MobiLAND. The goal as Contestabile put it, was to \u201cunderstand how important the needs of the local community are to develop a better rail system.\u201d<\/p>\r\n The area around the station appears as a series of small interlocking hexagons, each containing information about the likely density of people in any given area and other demographic data.<\/p>\r\n \u201cFor each of these points, we can use our algorithm to simulate a specific type of passenger as they flow throughout the city, and all the variables that might influence their movement,\u201d said Giulio Lascialfari, who leads RFI\u2019s location intelligence team.<\/p>\r\n <\/p>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Right","content":" MobiLAND and other GIS tools are helping the railway keep track of over 1,200 ongoing construction projects. The upgrades are being funded with part of \u20ac25 billion ($27.6 billion) in loans and grants that the Italian government has allotted to the national rail carrier, Ferrovie dello Stato (FS), from the EU\u2019s Recovery and Resilience Facility, a more than \u20ac700 billion fund created to help member states invest in projects to drive post-pandemic economic growth.<\/p>\r\n \r\n Over the past decade, highspeed rail in Italy has fueled a nationwide transportation renaissance. \u201cWhen we opened the high-speed line between Rome and Milan in 2009, we almost bankrupted the national airway company,\u201d Luigi Contestabile said. But then, ridership on the country\u2019s main business route quadrupled, from 1 million in 2008 to 3.6 million by 2018. Over two-thirds of people traveling between the two cities now take the train, which makes the trip in under three hours.<\/p>\r\n \r\n Rail helped unify Italy after the establishment of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861. In 1977, FS installed Europe\u2019s first dedicated high-speed line, carrying passengers between Rome and Florence at speeds up to 160 mph.<\/p>\r\n \r\n Today, Italy\u2019s relationship to its railways is visible from space. A nighttime satellite photograph of the country, with its population centers in blooms of light, closely resembles the national rail map. One quarter of Italians\u2014about 15 million people\u2014live or work within a 15-minute walk of a railway station. Half the population lives within a 15-minute bike ride.<\/p>\r\n \r\n \u201cItaly has grown up around its rail network,\u201d Contestabile said, \u201cbang in the center of the city, and bang in the center of the economy.\u201d<\/p>","snippet":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" These data-rich insights are critical as the rail company pursues an ambitious expansion and redevelopment plan\u2014part of one of the largest infrastructure projects in Europe, a multiyear bid by the Italian government to fuel economic growth through its century-old railway. The project includes renovations of some 600 stations and the construction of dozens more along a new high-speed rail network in the historically underdeveloped south.<\/p>\r\n \u201cEvery city has its own needs, and every city deserves its own solutions,\u201d he said, \u201cbut everywhere, a well-developed train station boosts the economy and improves the livability of the surrounding areas.\u201d<\/p>\r\n RFI\u2019s Integrated Station Plan is transforming hundreds of the country\u2019s railway stations from mere transportation nodes into what Contestabile calls \u201cgravitational centers\u201d for local communities and economies.<\/p>\r\n Along with adding accessibility features like ramps and elevators, the upgrades are transforming disused spaces in stations into caf\u00e9s, shops, and social services offices aimed at meeting specific local community needs. By helping RFI planners better understand each station\u2019s surroundings, MobiLAND is supporting those refurbishments.<\/p>\r\n For instance, a station close to a university would be the right place for low-cost caf\u00e9s or study spaces; a station close to a big museum or a tourist attraction might call for an information booth, a luggage storage room, and a gift shop. In towns with fewer than 15,000 residents, station upgrades will include not only community hubs and coworking spaces, but also essential services like pharmacies and health clinics.<\/p>\r\n MobiLAND is also helping turn over empty station buildings across the country to local governments, community groups, and nonprofits. In the Alpine town of Rovereto, the empty main building of the railway station and the surrounding land are being t<\/a>ransformed<\/a> into a public civic hub focused on climate change, biodiversity, and heritage regeneration.<\/p>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"gallery","gallery_images":[754892,754882,754862,754912]},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" The idea of developing a GIS platform began in 2020 in the RFI Stations Department, sparked by a basic recognition, said Contestabile: \u201cIf we really wanted to understand how a railway station should work, we would necessarily have to understand the needs of the territorial context that hosts it.\u201d A small team soon built several GIS tools and databases to support decisions and investments.<\/p>\r\n \u201cWe had technical challenges in the beginning, but the greatest challenge was cultural,\u201d he said.<\/p>\r\n Within a few years Contestabile\u2019s group moved to the RFI's Sustainability and Planning Strategies Directorate. With help from an interdisciplinary GIS melting pot\u2014light on engineers but rich in architects, urban planners, mathematicians, remote sensing experts, and physicists\u2014the work evolved to encompass not only stations and their surroundings but the entire Italian mobility system: over 18,000 kilometers of railway lines and thousands of buildings, level crossings, tunnels, and bridges.<\/p>\r\n For any given station, Contestabile\u2019s analysts can see over 400 data layers of environmental, mobility, economic, and sociodemographic details. On the map, they can see everything from tree cover and taxi stands to EV charging stations, crime statistics, and even the anonymized movements of cars and e-scooters in sharing systems.<\/p>\r\n On a collective dashboard, station managers can see detailed views of their stations. Planners across the whole network use MobiLAND to model renovation scenarios, share information with decision-makers and stakeholders, and guide billions of euros in investments.<\/p>\r\n For instance, by combining population density and types of populations\u2014like students or white-collar workers\u2014planners can predict transit demand and model the flow of commuters. Using that knowledge, along with factors like the slope of the terrain, can optimize bicycle parking lot designs or inform the expansion of mobility assistance programs.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Along the Adriatic coast, in Pesaro, RFI\u2019s designers have ordered renovations that aim to integrate two neighborhoods currently divided by the station\u2019s bundle of railway tracks. The main building, underpass, and platforms will be upgraded with more community functions, while the outdoor areas will be enhanced to support better access and improved safety, livability, and attractiveness.<\/p>\r\n\r\n \t
A Nation Reconnected<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n
From Vision to Platform<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n
Stations Reimagined<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n