MILAN, October 8, 2019 - Italian President Sergio Mattarella, accompanied by Salini Impregilo Chief Executive Pietro Salini, visited today one of the stations of Cityringen, Copenhagen’s new metro line built by the Group. The line, which encircles the historic centre, was inaugurated by Queen Margrethe II on September 29. This mega infrastructure project is helping the city in its ambitious goal to become the world’s first carbon-neutral capital.

Mattarella visited Gammel Strand, one of the line’s 17 underground stations located near the Christiansborg Parliament and the Thorvaldsens museum.

Situated under the Slotsholmen Canal, the station is actually the site of an old hargour.

Gammel Strand was a technical challenge to build. Half of the canal was drained in order to establish a platform for workers. The other half of the canal remained open for tourist boats during the entire period of the station’s construction. An old canal wall was also dismantled but it was eventually rebuilt when the station was complete.

The interior design of Gammel Strand reflects its location. Since it is 25 metres underground, the walls of the station are covered with white ceramic tiles that illuminated in such a way as to give the semblance of reflections from the water of the canal.

Built in just eight years, a record for projects of its kind in Europe, Cityringen pushes further the idea of mobility. Its circular shape - intersecting other metro lines and bus routes - and the quality of the service it offers with its driverless trains provide a unique way to travel within the city. Thanks to a frequency rate of 80 to 100 seconds between each train, it will be able to transport up to 72 million passengers a year.

Salini Impregilo is a global leader in the construction of sustainable mobility systems, with experience gained from the construction of more than 470 kilometres of metro lines across the globe. From New York to Saint Petersburg, the Group is involved in the construction of Grand Paris Express, a metro line in Lima, and others in Doha , Riyadh Milan and Thessaloniki. It is also building a light rail transit such as Perth.