The European Commission has authorised Italy to provide €24.5 million in public funding to expand the Interporto Bologna multimodal freight terminal. According to the Commission’s State Aid Register (Case SA.118718), the decision was adopted on 2 October 2025 under the “decision not to raise objections” procedure, meaning Brussels found the measure compatible with EU state aid rules. The public version of the decision has not yet been published.
Under the expansion plan, the existing facility is to be upgraded with five new 750-metre tracks and about 80,000 m² of additional platform area, to be completed by end-2026. The aid is explicitly intended to facilitate a modal shift from road to rail, particularly in the Emilia-Romagna region, which currently lags behind the EU average in terms of rail freight share.
The Commission notes that this region’s rail freight activity is relatively low but is expected to increase significantly in the coming years, not least because of the planned opening of the Brenner Base Tunnel around 2032.
The Bologna terminal is strategically located at the intersection of the Scandinavia–Mediterranean, Baltic–Adriatic, and Mediterranean TEN-T corridors, and already maintains rail services to destinations such as Cologne, Rotterdam, and Rostock. The Commission concluded that the aid is necessary and proportionate, and that without it, the operator would not have scaled the expansion to this extent.
From Bologna to Brenner: public funding targets key freight corridors
The Bologna terminal expansion comes amid a broader effort by Italy and the European Union to strengthen rail freight capacity and improve intermodal connectivity.
Earlier this year, the Italian government earmarked €2.1 billion to modernise the national rail network, funding upgrades and maintenance projects designed to improve efficiency and resilience, reported RailwayPro. At EU level, the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) is providing almost €2.8 billion in grants for 94 transport projects to boost sustainable and cross-border mobility, according to the European Commission.
Brussels has previously authorised other Italian support schemes in this area. In 2022, for example, the Commission approved a €55 million programme to modernise intermodal terminals and encourage freight operators to switch from road to rail, as reported by CLECAT.
However, the European Court of Auditors noted in a 2023 review that despite years of policy and funding support, progress in making intermodal freight more competitive has been slow, citing persistent bottlenecks and limited interoperability between national networks.
Against this backdrop, the Interporto Bologna expansion illustrates how EU-backed public funding continues to target specific nodes within the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) to address capacity constraints and promote a lasting modal shift.
