of four high-speed train platforms (lines 16 to 19). The underground platforms opened for passenger service on 9 June 2013. Together with the reinstatement of four surface tracks, which were removed to facilitate construction, the project is due to be completed by 2016. The expected cost was €340 million. This high-speed station is connected by a series of walkways and elevators to the central part. Transfer time is approximately 10 minutes on foot. History The first Bologna Centrale station was constructed in 1859, though its history is unclear. A new station was built twelve years later on the same grounds. The modern station was designed and built by architect Gaetano Ratti, who trained in the local Clementine Academy. Inspired by the neoclassical style, the station's distinctive 15th century façade opens in nine entrance doors. The main passenger building is reminiscent of renaissance Florentine architecture. Until the 1940s, it was topped by a clock tower with marble pillars, but the tower was damaged by allied bombings in the Second World War and not rebuilt. The original design called for a rectangular shaped, two-faced building, with a marble external façade and a steel internal one. Subsequent extension works, such as the 1926 building of the westbound platforms, shaped the station into the “L” form, typical of expanded transit stations. The introduction of new platforms at the eastern half in 1934, brought another change to the station's configuration. 1980 terrorist bombing On 2 August 1980 at 10.25 am, an improvised explosive device (IED) made with 20 kilograms of a TNT mixture was detonated inside Bologna's main railway station. The IED was contained in a suitcase, which was placed near the wall inside a lobby. The explosion killed 85 people and injured more than 200. The wing of the station in which the bomb was detonated has been reconstructed but, as a testimony to the victims of the attack, the original pavement was maintained as well as a deep crack in the main wall. The attack is also known in Italy as the Strage di Bologna, the Bologna massacre. The Italian government immediately accused the Italian neo-fascist militant groups for the attack; however this was denied by the group, and no one ever claimed responsibility. After 15 years, official investigation has determined that the attack was carried out by a small neo-fascist group, call Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari. Many conspiracy theories regarding this event have