The project for line 5 of the Milan metro is being managed through a project
financing scheme.
The contract between the concessionaire, Metro 5 SpA, and the Milan local
authority was signed on 14 June 2006, and runs for a term of 31 years and nine
months, including around five years for the construction phase.
Within the project, Ansaldo STS is a partner of both the concessionaire,
Metro 5, and the operator, ATI, which will carry out the construction work. The
transport management system will be run by ATM.
The transport system designed for line M5 of the Milan metro is a driverless
light urban railway system on fully automated track and with permanently
staffed stations. There will also be onboard staff, whose chief
responsibilities will be passenger assistance, checking tickets and
supervision.
Initially, line M5 will comprise nine stations and about six kilometres of
track, all of it underground, either in bored tunnelling or artificial
tunnels.
Line 5 will feature interchanges with the other rail lines as well as with
surface tram lines, trolleybus lines and bus routes at stations.
The line may be extended northwards to Monza and, following the introduction
of the
Variante Garibaldi, and consequently the moving of the Garibaldi
station from its initial planned location, the line may be extended as far as
San Siro to the west.
Commercial operation will be launched in two phases. The first phase will
see the “Bignami-Zara” section opened to the public in February 2011. This
section will connect the northern Bignami terminus with Zara station, where
there will be an interchange with line 3. Subsequently, the tunnel section
between Isola and Garibaldi, linking with the “City of Fashion” project, will
be built and commercial operation of the whole Garibaldi-Bignami section will
start in April 2012.
The technology planned for the trains and systems is based on
solutions
already adopted by Ansaldo STS in Copenhagen, which have been in commercial
operation since 2002.
The signalling and automation system, which meets the most stringent safety
requirements, has the safety certification as was obtained for the Copenhagen
metro in compliance with the CENELEC standards EN 50126, EN 50128 and ENV
50129.
The line is monitored exclusively from a central operating post from where
routine and emergency communication is possible with both the stations and the
trains themselves.
The stations are 50 metres long and are therefore already able to
accommodate trains of four carriages. They are all equipped with automatic
doors, to ensure maximum passenger safety.
On the Garibaldi-Bignami section a fleet of 12 trains will operate, running
at the rate of one every three minutes at peak times. A fleet of seven trains
will operate on the Functional Stretch, with a peak time frequency of six
minutes.
Maximum peak-time passenger capacity for the Garibaldi-Bignami section is
8,600 pphpd (passengers per hour per direction), with annual passenger numbers
estimated at 22.4 million. If the system can be expanded, the line’s passenger
capacity could reach 25,600 pphpd, with a minimum frequency of 75 seconds.
The agreement with the Milan local authority envisages the highest standards
of availability, regularity and punctuality for the service, as well as high
quality standards for safety, cleanliness and passenger information.
