Milano Centrale

Previous entry: 1st Night in Milan

Milano Centrale is the main railway station in Milan and many inter-city trains pass here. When boarding the train to La Spezia, we were pushing our luggage along the platform when a young man came up to us. He asked to look at our ticket, then helped to bring our luggage up the train. He was wearing a jacket that resembled the uniforms the train staff wore and he appeared mild-mannered and seemed very sure of what he was doing. We didn't suspect anything amiss. When we were in our carriage and he'd lifted our luggage up into the overhead luggage racks, he asked us for 10 Euros each! I was too stunned to react, but my well-travelled bestie immediately put on a show of looking pitiful, insisting that we thought he was the train staff and that we didn't have a cent on us; this was our return journey. Fortunately the man wasn't the aggressive sort, and he brought down his offer eventually to 1 Euro. But Ivy sent him on his way with a packet of orange juice she got from Cold Storage the night before. Phew! She also reminded me that that I need not have worried at all because he would have to leave before the train did, or the train conductor would have chased him off the train when he was found without a ticket.

On another occasion when we were back at the station to take the Milan Malpensa Express to the airport, while Ivy was trying to find out where the platform was located, a gruff looking man came up to me and asked me for our luggage on pretext of helping us find the platform. I held on to the luggage and kept backing away and saying no but he continued to pester me until Ivy came back to help. It's really important to keep an eye on luggages and pockets in this busy station, and never accept a stranger's help unless he/she can be confirmed to be the station staff. Better to break a well-meaning kind soul's heart than to fork out a large sum of money or end up in an argument. Some of these guys could be part of a gang.

Nevetheless, despite the dangers of scammers, Milano Centrale is a pleasant, spacious station with beautiful architecture.

Passageway in front of the entrances to the station, helmed by commercial billboards and cafes:

Inside the station, the ceiling is high with detailed carvings bearing Roman influences:

The black screens with tiny orange letters are electronic billboards showing the platform numbers and arrival and departure times of trains. They are conveniently located everywhere around the station.

Tickets are sold at the biglietteria, but we purchased our tickets for intercity train services online via the train services' official websites.

Travellators make it easy for travellers to move luggage around.

Ceiling above the travellator, supported by Roman columns.

Platforms are clearly numbered, and there are automated ticketing machines nearby for last minute purchases. Yep, no faregates for inter-city travel, but a conductor onboard the train will check your tickets.

A train pulling into the station.

The station looks grand from the outside, but I only had time for a very quick snapshot.

Thanks for reading! Larger dimensions of landscape photos can be accessed here.