Florence HS By-Pass - site visit by Top Management from FS and Tuscan Institutions

To get an up-close view of progress on one of the most strategic worksites for developing mobility in Italy, and to summarise institutional synergies in the field. This was the point of the technical fact-finding visit of 29 May to the worksites for the Florence HS by-pass. In fact, this was the first meeting of the Tuscany Region, Florence City Council, and top management from Gruppo FS and the companies working on the sites open in the City: the one on via Campo d’Arrigo, from where the Iris and Marika TBMs began work, and the one on via Circondaria, where the chamber for the new Belfiore station is being excavated.

The Ferrovie dello Stato's delegation was headed by CEO Stefano Antonio Donnarumma accompanied by Aldo Isi, RFI's CEO, Gianpiero Strisciuglio, Trenitalia's CEO, Dario Lo Bosco, Italferr's CEO, and Paolo Pizzarotti, Chairman of the Construction Company. The Tuscan Institutions were represented by Tuscan Region President Eugenio Giani, along with infrastructure councillor Stefano Baccelli, and Florence Mayor Sara Funaro.

This was an important occasion for evaluating the progress status of this large strategic project, and for summarising the synergy to which the Region also gives a lot of attention.

Italferr, along with Gruppo FS, is greatly involved in designing and managing the new railway underpass under the City of Florence.

This is part of a larger European project - TEN-T (Trans-European Transport Network), the main goal of which is to create a "connected Europe", by means of a transport network able to promote growth and competitiveness thanks to freedom of movement of people, freight, goods and services.

To create the underpass within Florence's urban area, two parallel, single track tunnels will be excavated at a depth of about 20 metres, one for each direction of travel, each about 7 kilometres long, linked to one another by safety by-passes every 500 metres.

In order to optimise work phases and reduce times, the tunnels will be formed using TBMs with a diameter of more than 9 metres - real mobile factories that will bore in ways and at times that mean they will not be operating simultaneously.

Along with the underpass, on the underground section, at least 25 metres below road level in the via Circondaria area, the new Firenze Belfiore HS Station will be created, linked to the Firenze Santa Maria Novella Station and the urban area by various modes of transport.

In addition, actions have been taken of use for limiting emissions, preparing designs and arranging eco-sustainable works that will be able to be said to be "green" work equipment and vehicles. For this very reason, the earth from the (tunnel and station) excavations will be transported by train and reused to upgrade and valorise the countryside at what was a lignite quarry in Santa Barbara, in Valdarno. 

The Iris TBM, that set out in November 2023, has excavated 1,8 km and is currently "safely parked" below Fortezza da Basso. The Marika TBM, that set out in November 2024, has excavated more than 1 km and is currently below Piazza della Libertà.

As regards the Belfiore Station, to date all the chamber diaphragms have been formed, the slab has been completed, and 15 of the total planned 25 metres have been excavated. Currently formwork is being set up, as well as reinforcing and casting of the structures that will make up the intermediate, so-called "mezzanine", slab.

This is a new milestone in further shortening the distance between the North and South of the Country.