Naples-Afragola train station
The Naples-Afragola station , in Italian Stazione di Napoli Afragola , is a station on the high-speed line Rome – Naples in the small Italian town of Afragola in the greater Naples area . The station, which opened on June 6, 2017, is primarily intended to serve as a major transport hub for regional and national traffic for the greater Naples area.
The station building was designed by the British-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid in a style widely known as "futuristic". It is considered to be the architect's last major project before she died in 2016.
history
Construction of the station building
The Italian network operator Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI) was responsible for the development of the station . The RFI awarded the contract for the design of the station in 2003 to the architectural office Zaha Hadid . On November 4, 2003, Zaha Hadid officially presented the design of the station. As originally planned, the station should open in the course of 2009; however, the project suffered several delays, some of them due to budget constraints. In one phase, RFI had awarded the contract for the construction of the station, valued at 59.5 million euros, to a consortium, but after price disputes, RFI put out to tender again. As a result, construction was suspended for a longer period of time, which lasted until early 2015. In February 2015, the new construction contract for its delivery was awarded to the multinational construction company Astaldi .
According to Filippo Innocenti, project manager at Zaha Hadid, the main station building was planned from the beginning on a large bridge over all eight tracks and will have four levels with a maximum height of 25 meters. The placement of the hall directly above each platform should have the advantage that the walking distances for the passengers are minimized, while the introduction of the bridge format has also avoided the communities on one side of the station being preferred to those on the other.
Allegedly 20,000 square meters of matt cladding was installed; this is reportedly the largest amount of this type of cladding ever used on a single construction project in Italy. A total of 5,000 tons of steel were required for the scaffolding floors and curved roofs, while 200 kilometers of cabling and more than 2,000 LED lights were installed over 4,000 meters of light tubes, which were integrated into the steel roof girders. During a large part of the construction, around 330 workers were usually on the site every day, the number of employees eventually peaking at 700.
Integration of the environment
Attempts were also made to integrate the train station into the adjacent industrial park and the landscape, which was deliberately pursued with the aim of developing the surrounding area. The four-storey train station was given a generous area for public facilities, retail shops and waiting areas, while remaining spacious and as open as possible; the area above the main waiting area was given a bus station and 1,400 parking spaces as well as a number of restaurants and bars. The exterior of the station is mainly covered by large panes of glass that create sinuous shapes, which Zaha Hadid claimed to create the image of a moving train.
Another focus was to enable the best possible view of the nearby Vesuvius . At the same time, the relatively active volcano was a major complication factor in both the planning and construction of the station. The building had to comply with restrictive seismic measures: One of these measures is the division of the building into different zones with a maximum length of 50 meters. This construction is intended to allow the sections to move individually to better cope in the event of a seismic emergency.
Opening in 2017
On June 6, 2017, the Napoli Afragola train station was inaugurated in the presence of the Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni , who said: “Every big country needs big projects that mean a leap forward [...]. The new station in Afragola is the basis of the infrastructure program to promote economic development in the south. ”Since June 11th, 36 high-speed trains have stopped at the station every day, 18 of them Frecciarossa of the state railway Trenitalia and another 18 Italos of the private railway company NTV .
Further routes are to be connected in the future. With the opening of the Naples – Bari high-speed line, additional trains will stop at Afragola station from 2022 onwards. Critics complain that the train station is, so to speak, a “cathedral in the desert”, as there is no connection to the center of Naples. Neither the Naples Metro nor the suburban trains ( Circumvesuviana ) reach the station.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Zaha Hadid's last masterpiece - A 60 million train station - without a purpose. Accessed April 11, 2019 (German).
- ↑ a b c d e f g Andy Milne: Napoli Afragola - Italy's remarkable new station. Retrieved April 11, 2019 (UK English).
- ^ A b c Naples-Afragola High-Speed Train Station, Naples. In: Railway Technology. Retrieved April 11, 2019 (UK English).
- ^ DVV Media International Ltd: Prime Minister inaugurates Napoli Afragola station. Accessed April 11, 2019 .
- ↑ Allplan: Zaha Hadid's Last Disaster? Retrieved April 11, 2019 .
- ^ Permanent construction project: Zaha Hadid train station near Naples inaugurated . In: Spiegel Online . June 6, 2017 ( spiegel.de [accessed April 11, 2019]).
Coordinates: 40 ° 55 ′ 53 ″ N , 14 ° 19 ′ 52 ″ E