A 20-metre plane travels over Piazza San Babila. Direction Linate, suspended motionless at a height of four and ten meters to symbolize the proximity between the historic heart of the city and the city airport, whose distance from today is shortened to 12 minutes. The M4, the fifth line of the metro that will unite West and East, the Forlanini stop and San Cristoforo, finally arrives in the centre. (Here the changes to the bus routes).
An airplane (inflatable) in San Babila
The inflatable aircraft with a blue livery and the inscription «with M4 fly to Linate» will loom over the inauguration this morning, when the line will be extended by two new stops: Tricolore and San Babila, transformed into a large pedestrian area. At the same time, a reproduction of the square will be set up in the city airport metro station, complete with flowerbeds and a copy of the fountain created by the architect Luigi Caccia Dominioni. Both installations will remain throughout the week. The M4 is twenty years old (the project dates back to 2005), the first six stops were opened seven and a half years late last November (it was supposed to be ready in 2015), two more today and the next 13 will be activated en bloc in a year and a half.
The maximum speed
Each train on the route can carry up to 600 people and can reach a maximum speed of 80 kilometers per hour, for a total of 24,000 passengers per hour in each direction when the entire line is operational.
The next stops
At the moment the stops of Linate airport, Repetti, Forlanini station, Argonne, Susa, Dateo, Tricolore and San Babila are active. By the end of 2024 all the others that run from the center towards the east axis of Milan will open at the same time: Sforza Policlinico, Santa Sofia, Vetra, De Amicis, S. Ambrogio, Coni Zugna, California, Bolivar, Tolstoj, Frattini, Gelsomini, Segneri and St. Christopher. It will be a third and final opening structured in a single lot, despite being “each new stop at a different stage of processing”, explain Mm.
Construction sites in the city
The mole finished excavating the tunnels for the line over a year ago: they are being lined, the bottom laid, the rails laid and the systems created. Then the works of the stations. The Sforza and De Amicis stops were the ones that suffered the most delays. The Municipality expressly chose not to open construction sites in the city center during Expo 2015: the delay on Sforza continued even further because the construction site coincided with the area of the Policlinico and the University, on De Amicis due to the many archaeological finds during the excavations. Although the opening will take place in a single block for the last 13 stations, the construction sites will undergo changes in the coming months, Mm assures, “as has already happened on the western section where the construction sites have reduced or have almost completely disappeared”. The trend is diversified building site by building site but the assurance is of their progressive reduction, «as happened in Washington, Frattini or Gelsomini. The construction sites are mobile realities, as the most important processes are completed, the cesates are removed and the less impactful orsogril nets are placed. The sound-absorbing panels must remain until the work is completely completed».
Superficial repairs
Furthermore, for each construction site, as will be shown today for Piazza San Babila and as has already been the case for Argonne, an important surface arrangement is envisaged. By the end of the year, the entire redevelopment of Corso Europa and Largo Augusto will be ready, which will become completely pedestrian. And then interventions such as the one on via Molino delle Armi, with widening of the sidewalks, pedestrian areas and cycle path; Sant’Ambrogio with the rebuilding of the pusterla, San Cristoforo with the cycle-pedestrian walkway: «As the construction sites disappear, new fruition areas will arise». After the ribbon cutting this morning in the presence of Mayor Beppe Sala and Minister Matteo Salvini, the M4 will be usable from 1pm and will be free throughout the day. While a party is planned on the axis of Corso Indipendenza and Corso Concordia.