By Ashley Karen
As reported, on 26 July 2023, at the Campo Marte site at Florence, excavation work started on the Florence HS rail link that will entail the new Florence Belfiore HS station and the city’s railway underpass. In the first few days, the tunnel boring machine (TBM) drove an initial section crucial for assembly, then backed up and ready for a restart without additional stops.
For the railway tunnel – between the Campo di Marte station in Florence and the Viale XI Agosto area, located near Rifredi and Castello stations –a 7km twin-tube tunnel will be driven at a 20 m deep with a safety by-pass every 500m. Meanwhile, works will carry on with the new high-speed station construction at the Belfiore construction site.
For the first time in the construction of the Florence high-speed bypass, the muck will move by rail. Thanks to the trains of Mercitalia, the FS Group Logistics Pole Leader, has already started to transport the first concrete segments that will form the rings for tunnel lining. Each one comprises six segments, and 46,000 of them will reach by train from the Lucignano plant, where they are manufactured.
The boring will lead to the general production of about 1,670,800 cubic meters of excavated materials, of which 1,350,000 cubic meters will be given to the S. Barbara mining area and reused sustainably for the construction of the so-called ‘Screen Hill’ in the Enel area.
Rete Ferroviaria Italiana is the client, and Italferr has been allocated the management of the works, which will be done by the Florentia Consortium (incorporated by the firms Pizzarotti and Saipem). The project is expected for completion by 2028, with a total investment of about EUR 2.7 billion.
