A consortium led by Italian contractor Webuild has won a design-and-build deal worth €1bn to build a 28km section of the Napoli-to-Bari high-speed rail line between Orsara and Hirpinia.
Webuild will work with contractor Pizzarotti in a joint venture 70% owned by Webuild, following the same arrangement used for a 11.8km section of the same line between Orsara and Bovino, awarded on the 14 June.
Work on the Orsara-to-Hirpinia section is mostly taken up with the construction of a 27km tunnel through which trains will travel at up to 250km/h. It will be carried out on behalf of state-owned rail operator Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane.
When work on the Naples-to-Bari line is complete, it will cut the travel time between the cities from four hours to two, and reduce the time taken to travel between Milan and Bari to six hours.
The line is part of corridor five of the Trans-European Transport Network, which will eventually link Finland and Malta.
Image: Naples (Kalman89/Dreamstime)
