The airport line will branch off the Venice - Trieste line north of Mestre at a triangular junction, following the main airport access road, before looping beneath the airport in a tunnel to serve the passenger terminal.

The project will now enter the detailed design phase, and €14m has been set aside for this purpose through the 2015 update of the 2012-2016 programme of investments agreed between the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and RFI.

Under the schedule agreed by RFI and SAVE, final design for the line will be completed by December, enabling to the project to go to the Interministerial Committee for Economic Planning (CIPE) for approval in 2017. Construction is due to begin in 2019 and the line will open in 2024.

In addition to funding from the Italian government, a European Union contribution could be sought through the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), which sponsors links to strategic airports.

The new railway is part of a wider programme launched in 2014 to the Minister for Infrastructure to improve rail links to key airports including Venice Marco Polo, Milan Malpensa and Rome Fiumicino. The 2015 update of the RFI investment programme added provisions for planning rail links to Bergamo, Genoa, and Catania airports.

In the Triveneto region (Friuli Venezia Giulia, Veneto, and Trentino Alto Adige) Venice and Trieste airports will join the rail network. Related infrastructure enhancements on the Venice - Trieste line were agreed last month in Rome by the regional president of Friuli Venezia Giulia Mrs Debora Serracchiani and RFI CEO Mr Maurizio Gentile.