The queen of Denmark inaugurates metro line built by Salini Impregilo

Copenhagen’s new metro, built by Salini Impregilo, will be inaugurated on Sunday, September 29 by Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, accompanied by members of the royal family, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Transport Minister Benny Engelbrecht, Copenhagen Mayor Frank Jensen and Salini Impregilo Chief Executive Pietro Salini.

Built in just eight years, a record for projects of its kind in Europe, Cityringen offers another dimension to mobility. Its circular shape (the line encircles the city centre, intersecting other metro lines and bus routes) and transport services provide a unique way to travel within Copenhagen. Thanks to a frequency rate of 80 to 100 seconds between each train, the metro line will be able to transport up to 72 million passengers a year, contributing to Copenhagen ambitious efforts to become the world’s first carbon neutral capital by 2025.

“We are happy to have supported the Danish government in the development of a project that represents a model for the sustainable mobility in the world,” says Pietro Salini. “Cityringen is a smart metro, whose construction was a unique challenge from an engineering perspective, which constantly put us to the test to overcome complexities related to the management of such a vast public work in a city like Copenhagen with its historic buildings to protect and the duty to reduce to a minimum the inconveniences caused to local residents during its construction.”

Commissioned by Metroselskabet, the public entity responsible for the city’s metro network, Cityringen comprises two parallel tunnels, each 15.5 kilometres long, that run underneath the historic centre in the so-called bridge district and under the nearby municipality of Frederiksberg. Cityringen has 17 underground stations, some as deep as 30 metres. One of the biggest challenges was to build under the foundations of buildings of great historic value. The tunnel-boring machines, or TBMs, excavated under shopping areas and stations for a combined 31 kilometres, often times through complex geological formations. They arrived at only 1.5 metres under the foundations of Magasin du Nord, the department store famous in Denmark and a historic landmark in Copenhagen.

The trains are automatic and driverless, with a frequency rate that rises at peak hours. By expanding the network of interchanges, people will be able to move by foot, bike or public transport for 75% of their journeys about the city. With Cityringen, 85% of residents will be within 600 metres – 10 minutes on foot – to a metro or train station.

In addition to safety and technology, one of the key aspects of the construction of Cityringen was the involvement of the city’s residents, who were invited to participate in more than 40 events held at various worksites. On other occasions, these worksites also welcomed more than 65,000 visitors, making the project an endeavour that was shared with the city from the very beginning.

About Salini Impregilo

Salini Impregilo is an industrial group specialising in the construction of large, complex civil infrastructure, a dynamic Italian company able to compete with leading global players. Operating in nearly 50 countries with more than 35,000 employees, new orders of € 6 billion and a total backlog reaching € 33.4 billion, Salini Impregilo is one of the major global players in the construction sector and a leader in the water sector as well as transport.