By Lynda Myer
In order to construct 83km of the new railway, including tunnels, Webuild has begun construction on four work sites in southern Italy, while these four job sites are the remaining two construction sites for the Hirpinia-Orsara and Orsara-Bovino sections of the Naples-Bari high-speed line, and the first two functional lots – Fiumefreddo-Taormina/Letojanni and Giampilieri-Taormina sections – of Sicily’s Messina-Catania line.
In June 2021, the contracts were granted to a consortium of Webuild (70%) and Impresa Pizzarotti (30%) by Italy’s railway infrastructure company, Rete Ferroviaria Italia (Gruppo FS Italiane).
27km of the Hirpinia-Orsara section, which is 28km long, will be tunnels, whereas the Orsara-Bovino section involves digging a twin-tube tunnel of around 10km and an additional 2km of line. The two contracts are part of the broader project to upgrade the Naples-Benevento-Foggia-Bari railway axis.
Constructing by the use of three TBMs, seven viaducts, and two railway stations, the Taormina-Giampilieri section is a 28.3km line, with 25.2km of tunnels, while four tunnels, the Taormina-Letojanni interconnection, the Taormina underground station, as well as two viaducts, are the subsets of the Fiumefreddo-Taormina/Letojanni section with 15km length. Intending to speed up Sicily’s rail connections and improve the island’s accessibility, the two sections are part of the Palermo-Catania-Messina railway upgrade project.
On the Palermo-Catania line, the Webuild Group is already building the Bicocca-Catenanuova section.
