In 1911, construction on the urban section of the
Rome–Formia–Naples railway, the
Villa Literno–Napoli Gianturco railway was commenced, and although it was suspended for the duration of
World War I, the line was eventually opened on 28 September 1925 as an
urban railway service line, the first in Italy. This service is now known as
Line 2. After
World War II, the existing
Circumvesuviana railway was upgraded to a modern commuter rail, and also the
Cumana railway became relevant for the commuter transport. In 1962, the
Circumflegrea railway was opened. Construction of the first underground metro railway (
Line 1) began in 1976, and the first part opened on 28 March 1993. Initially called the
Metropolitana Collinare ("Hills metro") it ran for between
Colli Aminei and
Vanvitelli. Two years later, in 1995, the line was extended to reach
Piscinola Although progress had been made from the early setbacks and problems, it was still apparent by 1997 that the network suffered badly from the lack of network integration and poor connections, as well as the fact that large areas of Naples were not close to stations. In 1997, the city government drew up a new
Piano Comunale dei Trasporti di Napoli (City Transport Plan) which called for a review of the network, improved controls over maintenance expenditure and general finances, a new tariff control system and better management of the urban rail network of Naples. The transport plan called for a three phase major redevelopment. Phase 1 would involve an expansion to a total of five lines, including major redevelopment of
Line 1, and take the network up to of track ( of existing lines), with 68 stations (23 newly built), and 12 interchange nodes, to be completed by 2001. Phase 2 was designed to increase the network to 7 lines, with 84 stations, and 16 interchange nodes, plus 10 bus interchanges, to be completed by 2007. Phase 3 would see the network expanded to 10 rail lines with of track, and a further of new
light rail (
tram lines) linking 114 stations, with 21 interchanges, and 24 bus interchanges to be completed by 2011. The plan called for 70% of Neapolitans to be living within 500 metres of a transport access point by 2011. From 23 December 2006 to 20 February 2007, a special exhibition of models and multimedia presentations was held at
Castel dell'Ovo to showcase all of the planned improvements to the Metropolitana di Napoli network, and was extremely well received by locals.
Line 6, which is categorized as a "
light metro" line, opened in February 2007, running on of route and serving 4 stations. In 2009, Line 11 extended to
Aversa Centro station. On 28 March 2011, Line 1 was extended from
Museo station to
Università. On 17 September 2012, the
Toledo station between
Dante and
Università opened on Line 1. On 1 April 2025, Line 1 was extended from
Garibaldi to
Centro Direzionale. ==Operator==