The increasing frequency of extreme weather events and the environmental degradation caused by climate change have made European transport infrastructures increasingly vulnerable, particularly those along coasts and in mountainous regions. Landslides, rockfalls, and slope failures now pose significant threats to both the safety of communities and the efficiency of strategic rail networks.

According to the European Environment Agency (EEA), recent years have seen a sharp rise in damage linked to land instability phenomena, which are directly affecting the functionality of sustainable mobility infrastructures. It is within this growing context of vulnerability that the intervention on the Côte Bleue railway line takes place—a critical link between Miramas, L’Estaque, and Marseille—where Maccaferri contributed with the goal of helping to reduce road congestion between Martigues and the Provençal capital.

Despite its strategic importance, the line had long suffered from serious issues: the aggressiveness of the marine environment, industrial pollution, and the fragility of surrounding slopes had compromised both safety and service reliability, causing slowdowns and hazardous conditions—particularly along the stretch between PK 867+265 and PK 867+522, characterized by unstable rock walls subject to frequent detachments.

To effectively address this challenge, Maccaferri, in collaboration with NGE Fondation and under the design leadership of SNCF Réseau, provided its advanced technical expertise and state-of-the-art engineering solutions. The project involved the installation of customized protective systems, including double-twist rockfall nets, MacRing ring nets, and dynamic rockfall barriers such as the RB100 UAF, RB2000, and RB3000 models. The latter two, products of Maccaferri’s ongoing innovation, were specifically designed to offer maximum performance even in complex environments, thanks to features like preassembled curtain-style nets, simplified anchoring systems, and uprights that reduce or even eliminate the need for base anchoring. In narrower sections, the compact RB100 UAF barriers, with their reinforced mesh, provided an effective solution without compromising available space or slope stability.

The intervention successfully restored safety to the line and, more importantly, enhanced its future resilience to natural hazards and the effects of climate change. Maccaferri’s solutions, designed to blend seamlessly with the environment, minimized the visual impact on the surrounding landscape and allowed for rapid project execution, keeping rail service disruptions to a minimum.

Today, the Côte Bleue project stands as a benchmark, a replicable model for other European rail infrastructures exposed to similar risks. It also demonstrates how Maccaferri’s engineering solutions, combined with the deep understanding of natural dynamics held by its engineers and technicians, can deliver safety, efficiency, and sustainability even in the most challenging scenarios.