We’ve been talking about it for years, but perhaps noise barriers along the tracks in Monza could really arrive.
Noise barriers on the way
It is a 15 million project, just for the ongoing contracts (then there are the further tranches, in the next few years, with costs to be defined) that the Italian Railway Network intends to carry out to install anti-noise barriers along the railway that crosses Monza, from Milan to Como and Lecco. A project that has been talked about for many years and which now, also thanks to pressure from the Municipality, seems ready to start (indeed, at one point it has already started but is already at a standstill).
It was discussed at a public evening in San Rocco last Tuesday, with the mayor present Paolo Pilottothe Mobility Councilor Giada Turato and RFI techniques Paola Barbaglia (national responsible for acoustic abatement), Livia Balzano (project manager for acoustic rehabilitation) e Cinzia Giangrande (Environment manager of RFi).
Monza among the priorities
«RFI’s national noise abatement plan – explained Barbaglia – approved 4 years ago, provides for interventions for 15 years with priorities. Monza is included in the top 4 years. The buffer zone of the tracks is now 30 metres, but in the past it was 6 metres, which could be waived. Hence the large number of houses, even in Brianza, very close to the tracks.”
Acoustic abatement, according to RFI directives, is carried out by acting on the rolling stock, with anti-noise barriers and, where these are not enough, by operating on the receptor (i.e. on the houses affected by the noise).
This is where we will intervene
Concretely, here’s where and when we will intervene in Monza. On the line to Como, the installation of barriers will begin in October along track 1, from the station towards the south, up to Via Gorizia, for 890 metres. The relevant construction sites will be at the station and in via Toniolo. A second contract, already financed and with the company in charge already identified by RFI, will concern the installation of barriers on the other track (track 2) from the via Aquileia bridge up to via Gorizia: «Here the works will begin later – they specified the RFI techniques so as not to overlap with the other works on track 1″. Where there is space, barriers will also be placed between the two tracks in order to lower the lateral barriers (which in the first section north of Via Aquileia will reach 9 meters in height).
The barriers will be opaque green or transparent, where needed to give more light in particular cases (parks or houses particularly close to the tracks: transparent barriers, however, absorb less noise). The construction site in via Aquileia will “steal” sixteen parking spaces in the car park between the overpass and via D’Annunzio until 2027. The plants near the parking lot will remain. These construction sites will be completed by March 2030: a certain dilution of work is needed, the technicians said, to guarantee train service and limit work outside the tracks. Normally we will work during the day, from Monday to Friday. Where necessary, work will be done at night (stationary trains) with sound-absorbing panels. In the next few days the owners of cadastral parcels affected by the occupation of the works will receive the communications required by law.
The other sections (south of via Aquileia, both sides, and from via Gorizia northwards on track 2) will be built later: RFI is drawing up the executive projects. It must be said that south of via Aquileia there are many houses near the tracks. The line to Lecco will not be affected by works for 5 years.
Via San Gottardo area
Different times also north of the station, always on the line to Como. The installation of the panels is already underway along track 1 (left side proceeding north) from the station up to the pedestrian walkway in Via San Gottardo but the work is suspended pending the green light from the Army regarding the presence of war explosives . In a year, work could start on the same side, almost up to Viale Battisti. On the other side (the right side towards the north) the works are currently scheduled for no earlier than 5 years. The Municipality instead asked to bring them forward but the request is in the hands of the ministry.
