Webuild-led consortium wins €1.6 billion high-speed railway tunnel contract

A tunnel boring machine (TBM) ready to begin excavating the tunnel of the Southern Apennines (Appennino Meridionale) in the Rochetta and Orsara tunnel along the Naples-Bari high-speed railway line. (Image: Webuild)

The group is already working on the first lot of the Salerno-Reggio Calabria railway in the south of Italy, commissioned by RFI (FS Italiane Group) and will build about 60km (37.3 miles) of the line.

Now, in consortium with Ghella, Pizzarotti, and SELI, Webuild has won a deal for the the Paola-Cosenza doubling section. This crosses approximately 22.2 km (13.8 miles) of Calabria, underground nearly all the way.

The main work in the project is the new Santomarco Tunnel, which is over 15 km (9.3 miles) long and is considered a strategic intervention on the line.

The new Santomarco Tunnel will be separated about 100 metres from the existing single-track tunnel, which will be decommissioned once the work is complete. Four tunnel boring machines (TBMs) will be used to excavate the double-tube, single-track tunnel.

Webuild, has a 60% share in the consortium and the work is expected to employ up to 1,500 people, including direct and third-party personnel.

The route will cross the Province of Cosenza, passing through the municipalities of Paola, San Lucido, Rende, Montalto Uffugo, San Vincenzo la Costa, and San Fili. A total of nine railway bridges and two viaducts are planned. One viaduct, 350 metres long, will cross the A2 motorway; a second, 205 metres long, will cross the Settimo stream. A new station will also be built in Montalto Uffugo to serve the territory and the university campus in Rende.