By lyndamyer
The digging process of the Grottaminarda tunnel in the Avellino Province, on the section between Apice and Hirpinia of the new Naples – Bari HS/HC line, was began on August 08, 2023 using TBM Aurora – which is 100 m long and powered by 18 motors with a total power of 6.3MW.
This project has been developed in collaboration with the Infrastructure and Transport Ministry, while it is a part of the Cantieri Parlanti project Gruppo FS’s initiative and gives a voice to more than 30 Strategic Works throughout Italy. Presenting a transparent account of the activities and aims of the works by means of public initiatives, infopoints as well as a dedicated section of the FS Italiane website, which is continuously updated and deals with strategic works, are the intentions of this project.
The construction site of Grottaminarda tunnel
Being located along the 18 km – 12 km of underground – Apice/Hirpinia section of the new Naples – Bari HS/HC Line, the Grottaminarda tunnel is around 2 km long and is the first of three planned tunnels.
The daily advancement of Aurora TBM that’s excavation diameter is about 12.5 m with continuous work for almost 5 months, 24-hour/24, 7 days a week, will be a 16 m, whereas it is due to install the lining rings composed by 9 prefabricated segments, 55 cm thick and 1.80 m long each.
Allowing the excavation of the Grottaminarda and Melito tunnels in sequence starting from a single site located at the adit on the Bari side, and significantly decreasing the impact of the intermediate construction sites in the area, are the advantages of mechanized excavation on the entire construction site system. More than 100 highly specialized people are employed to ensure continuous excavation, divided into 4 teams. The works of the section have an investment of approximately EUR628 million.
The new HS/HC Naples-Bari line project
As an integral part of Core Scandinavia – Mediterranean (Helsinki – La Valletta) Corridor n° 5, the new HS/HC Naples-Bari line represents the first and most advanced work that the Infrastructure Pole of the FS Group is carrying out to upgrade the railway network in the South of Italy. The new infrastructure, launched by RFI and for which Italferr has been encharged for the preliminary and final design, has a total investment of EUR5.8 bn, also financed under the PNRR [National Resilience and Relaunching Plan]. While the determined date for its completion is 2027, this project is slated to speed up the direct transversal connection between the Tyrrhenian and the Adriatic, improving the connections of Puglia and the more internal provinces of Campania with the Milan-Rome-Naples HS/HC line.
State of progress and benefits of the project
Since August 2022, all the construction sites of the new HS/HC Naples-Bari line have been under construction. Following acceleration of the works due to the activity of the Commissarial Management, the in 2017 the first two sections were completed: The Naples/Afragola interchange node and the Bovino-Cervaro lot. With the first phase of activation of the Cancello-Frasso Telesino, by 2024 it will be possible to create a direct connection between Naples and Bari in 2 hours and 40 minutes.
The service of this line upon its completion that has been planned for 2027, will be reducing the travel time of the Naples-Bari link will be to 2 hours compared to about 4 hours today, whilst the Rome-Bari link will take 3 hours, as a saving of about two hours compared to now.
