Italy's Brescia Starts Construction on New T2 Tram Line

Construction has started on Brescia's new T2 Fiera-Pendolina tram line, the city's first modern tram line, following a cornerstone-laying ceremony on 6 July attended by regional and municipal officials. The 11.3km double-track line will run from the Fiera exhibition centre in the southwest to Pendolina in the northwest, with a connection to the central railway station, and is due for completion in 2030.

The line will have 22 stops along its route. The construction contract, awarded in June 2025, is worth about €326m-327m, with total project value put at up to roughly €422m-426m. A temporary business consortium (RTI) led by Manelli Impresa (about EUR 161m of the contract), with Alstom (about EUR 88m) and Hitachi Rail (about EUR 77m), is building the line; Hitachi Rail will supply 18 trams built at its plant in Reggio Calabria as part of its share.

"It is a strategic infrastructure for the territory," said Franco Lucente, Regione Lombardia's regional assessor for transport and mobility. Debora Massari, regional assessor for tourism, territorial marketing and fashion, said "investing in infrastructure means investing in the future." Emilio Del Bono, vice president of the Lombardy regional council, and Laura Castelletti, mayor of Brescia, also attended the ceremony.

The new line adds to Brescia's existing driverless metro line, which opened in 2013, giving the city a second rapid-transit corridor serving its exhibition and fair district on the southwestern edge of town.