The cosmopolitan, bustling city of Naples serves as the gateway to the south of Italy—but the mechanics of that gate are a bit creaky. The main station of the city, Napoli Centrale, is over fifty years old and is currently being renovated. Even with renovations, however, the station will be congested. So, in the early 2000’s, the city looked north to the city of Afragola, within the Naples metropolitan area, for the site of an additional train station. Yesterday, Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni inaugurated the building ahead of the start of regular services on June 11.

The gleaming new station was designed by the late Dame Zaha Hadid and bears many of her design signatures, from curved structural concrete elements to Corian-clad steel ribs. It’s designed as an “urbanized public bridge” connecting the communities on either side of the tracks. In fact, the passenger concourse is the walkway bridging the tracks, and houses all services for departing, arriving, and connecting passengers. According to the press release, the paths of passengers determines the building’s geometry. It features large entrances at both ends that guide visitors up to the elevated public areas. 

When open, the Napoli Afragola Station is expected to house 32,700 passengers per day with a total of 84 express trains passing through it. 28 high-speed trains will stop at the station every day, providing express service every 30 minutes in each directions. In addition, 200 regional and local train services will stop at Napoli Afragola, making it into a major interchange in the national, regional and local rail networks.

“Any great country needs great projects that are a leap forward,” states Italian prime minister Paolo Gentiloni. “The new station at Afragola is the foundation of the infrastructure program that promotes economic development in the south.”