Line 2 Turin: the Metro that becomes city
in ARCHITETTURA | architecture
© Infra.To I Map of the metropolitan rail network, including lines in operation and those under design.
The future Line 2 (M2) of the Turin metro takes shape as a project that goes beyond infrastructure, becoming a cultural, landscape, and identity‑building device capable of redefining the relationship between mobility and the city. The preliminary design, launched in 2017 and approved as the Technical‑Economic Feasibility Project in 2020, received approval of the Definitive Design in 2022, which now forms the basis for ongoing tenders and the development of the Executive Project. An intervention of this scale involves a wide range of institutional actors: in addition to the City of Turin and the Piedmont Region, a central role is played by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport (MIT), the project’s main funder. On the technical side, design responsibilities currently lie with Infra.To — the municipal company that manages Turin’s metro, rail, tramway, and public mobility infrastructures. The first excavation works are expected to begin within the year, while the line is scheduled to enter service in early 2033. Meanwhile, the supply of trains has been awarded to the Japanese group Hitachi.
The long‑awaited M2 aims to improve urban mobility by connecting the northern and southern parts of the city and extending to Orbassano and San Mauro, for a total of 27 km, 32 stations, and two depots. It will be built in four sections: the Northern Section, from Rebaudengo to the Politecnico, with 13 stations over 10 km and the new Rebaudengo depot. This will be the first to start construction, divided into two lots — Rebaudengo–Porta Nuova and Porta Nuova–Politecnico — which the city aims to merge during the tender phase. The Southern Section will continue from the Politecnico to Anselmetti (Mirafiori), with 10 stations and a depot over 6.6 km. Two extensions are also planned: to the north, from Cimarosa to Pescarito (4 stations over 6 km), and to the south, from Anselmetti to Orbassano Centro (5 stations over 6 km).
© HISM I Stazione San Giovanni Bosco.
The winner of the international competition for the architecture, design, and visual identity of the line’s first section was officially announced on 6 February 2026. The €155,000 international tender, launched by Infra.To, concerned the funded lot of the M2 — €1.828 billion — covering the Rebaudengo–Porta Nuova section. Twenty‑six competitors took part, later narrowed to five finalists: Zaha Hadid Architects in second place, the Japanese group led by Kengo Kuma in third, followed by Richez Associes in fourth and Miralles Tagliabue in fifth. The team led by UNStudio, together with Settanta7, 3BA, Mijksenaar, Frigorosso and WSP, won the competition for the thirteen stations, proposing a coherent architectural system capable of engaging with Turin’s history while interpreting its future transformations. The jury was chaired by French architect Dominique Perrault.
© UNStudio I Mole-Giardini Station.
The passenger stations included in the competition are eleven — Rebaudengo, Giulio Cesare, San Giovanni Bosco, Corelli, Cimarosa‑Tabacchi, Bologna, Novara, Verona, Mole‑Giardini Reali, Carlo Alberto and Porta Nuova — distributed along roughly 8 km of line, plus the depot. Should additional funding become available, a 2‑km extension to the Politecnico is planned, adding two new stations: Pastrengo and Politecnico. These first 12 infrastructures, articulated into eight construction typologies, include 2 surface stations and 10 underground ones, with depths reaching up to 28 metres at Porta Nuova, the interchange node between M1 and M2. All stations will feature advanced safety and systems‑management technologies, based on sensors and software that adjust energy use and performance according to real passenger flows. The trains will be fully automated, driverless, with a capacity of around 400 passengers, a 90‑second headway, and a maximum speed of 80 km/h. Door‑opening and closing systems will also be automatic and synchronised with the trains. The project integrates advanced signalling technologies such as CBTC (Communication‑Based Train Control), next‑generation trains equipped for bicycle transport, and urban‑renewal interventions in strategic areas such as the former Trincerone on Via Gottardo and the former Manifattura Tabacchi.
© Infra.To I Carlo Alberto Station (Palazzo Carignano): 0 — Street Level; 1 — Concourse (lobby, information, ticketing, and museum/exhibition space); 2 — BOH (Back of House – Technical Rooms); 3 — Mezzanine Level, acting as a connector between the upper concourse and the platforms below; 4 — Platform and Track Level.
The architectural heart of the project focuses on three emblematic stations — Mole‑Giardini, San Giovanni Bosco and Carlo Alberto — united by a language that reinterprets one of the city’s most recognisable symbols: its porticoes. The canopies become sequences of structural frames evolving from arch to portal, transforming a technical element into a legible, identity‑defining urban gesture. Mole‑Giardini, next to the Mole Antonelliana, appears as a light, transparent volume calibrated to integrate delicately into the monumental context. San Giovanni Bosco, overlooking the new linear park on the former Trincerone, is conceived as a permeable pavilion immersed in the landscape, while Carlo Alberto becomes the new gateway to the Museum District, with an underground atrium hosting an archaeological showcase and the future Teatro delle Residenze. A Memorandum of Understanding with the Royal Savoy Residences will also enable a direct connection to the monumental underground spaces of Palazzo Carignano.
© Settanta7 I Carlo Alberto Station.
The tunnels of the Northern Section will be built using three construction technologies: a traditional reinforced‑concrete tunnel for the first two stops (about 5% of the route); a rectangular‑section cut‑and‑cover tunnel for 1,933 metres (about 20%), partly built along the former railway corridor of Via Gottardo/Via Sempione; and finally a TBM‑excavated tunnel — the mechanised “mole” — for the Cimarosa–Porta Nuova/Politecnico section, with a 10‑metre‑diameter cylindrical section. Along the entire route, energy segments will be integrated: prefabricated concrete elements equipped with geothermal piping that act as heat exchangers, exploiting the ground’s constant temperature to generate thermal energy for the stations, with a potential output of up to 1 MW per kilometre — equivalent to the needs of around 50 seven‑storey Class A buildings.
© HISM I Mole-Giardini Station.
The line’s identity is reinforced by a coherent graphic system designed to ensure immediate legibility and intuitive wayfinding. Colours, typography and information devices interact with the architecture, while materials such as aluminium, ceramic, terrazzo, porphyry and Luserna stone build a robust, durable material vocabulary in continuity with Turin’s urban landscapes.
© Infra.To I Corelli Station.
The expected benefits are significant: the M2 will be able to transport around 114,000 passengers per day — 36,000 during peak hours — with an average of 16,000 passengers per hour, helping reduce vehicle traffic by 9%. Four park‑and‑ride facilities are planned (Orbassano, Anselmetti, San Mauro and Rebaudengo) to facilitate access to the city centre without cars. For comparison, the M1 carried 42 million passengers in 2019; the M2 is estimated to reach up to 85 million per year. But the project goes beyond mobility: Line 2 reshapes the urban landscape, introducing architectures that engage with the city, materials that evoke its memory, and spaces designed to be lived. An infrastructure that interprets Turin as an evolving organism, capable of embracing the future without losing its identity.