Webuild-led consortium wins €1.82bn lot on Verona to Padua high-speed railway

Image: Webuild

A consortium led by Italian contractor Webuild has won a €1.82 billion contract to design and build a section of a new high-speed railway between Verona and Padua in Italy.

Webuild holds an 83% stake in the general contractor Iricav Due, which also includes Hitachi Rail STS with a 17% stake, and Lamaro Appalti and Fintecna as minority partners.

Iricav Due will build a crossing at the junction of Vicenza. It involves constructing 6.2km of line from the town of Altavilla Vicentina to the station in Vicenza. It will also include the renewal of 4.8km of the existing line.

Webuild said the work would allow for an increase in high-speed, regional and freight transport services along the Milan-Venice route. It will also allow better separation of traffic flows, with an increase in capacity, a reduction of travel times and an increase in train frequency, the contractor claimed.

The Verona—Padua line will run for 76.5km in total and is subdivided into three lots.

Work on the first stretch between Verona and Bivio Vicenza (44.2km) started in 2020 and has reached 35% completion.

The signing of the contract for the crossing at Vicenza signals the start of work on the second lot.

And the third lot for the Vicenza-Padua section (more than 26km) is in the final design phase.

Webuild is overseeing the design, environmental monitoring and taking responsibility for the civil works and installation of technology on all three lots.

Hitachi Rail is supplying the ERTMS digital signalling system.