By Lynda Myer
Date of holding the official ceremony for the beginning of the construction of the Florence high-speed bypass was 15 May 2023. Advancing this project, which includes the new high-speed station Firenze Belfiore, is up to the Italferr Works Management that comprises the excavation of two parallel tunnels, one in each direction, about 7 km long and 20 m deep, linked to each other with cross passages every 500 m, between the station of Firenze Campo di Marte and the area of viale XI Agosto, located between the stations of Firenze Rifredi and Firenze Castello.
The idea of constructing the tunnels with two TBMs commissioned at different times, was in order to optimize the work phases and so that they not to be operational at the same time. With 1500 t weight and excavation diameter 9.4 m, the first TBM was launched on 16 May and its daily advance will be about 12 m. The Florentia Consortium received the completion of the works on 28 November 2022 from RFI, composed of Pizzarotti and Saipem. In the meantime, the Infrarail company carried out revamping activities of the TBM: machine disassembly, overhaul, component replacement and reassembly.
Providing the possibility of separation of flows between regional and high-speed trains, the railway undercrossing will bring enormous benefits to people, to economic and tourist activities, to local and metropolitan mobility.
Location of the new Firenze Belfiore high-speed station is due to be along the underground route, at less than 25 m from the roadway in the via Circondaria area. While the responsibility of designing this new station will be by Foster architecture and the engineering company Ove Arup & Partners, it is going to be interconnected with Firenze Santa Maria Novella station and with the urban area thanks to various modes of transport: the new people-mover, line 2 of the city tram system already in operation and the urban buses, suitably upgraded.
In order to containing emissions, developing projects and arranging eco-sustainable processes that can benefit from green equipment and vehicles, with hybrid and, in some cases, electric engines, initiatives have been undertaken. Using train, the muck coming from the digging (tunnels and station) will be transported and they are slated to be reused for the redevelopment and landscape enhancement of a former lignite quarry, owned by ENEL, in Santa Barbara, in the Valdarno.
During the progress of the works, the specially reconstructed Environmental Observatory will constitute a further element of support for the control of the environmental aspects related to the construction site activities (atmosphere, noise and vibration, groundwater and surface water, electromagnetic fields, etc.), also through ARPAT.
