Consortium Wins €934-Million Rail Bypass Contract in Italy

Webuild and its consortium partners have won a €934-million contract from Rete Ferroviaria Italiana of state rail operator Gruppo FS Italiane for a rail bypass at Lot 3A of a project in Trento, Italy. Webuild, which has a 55% stake in the consortium, will lead the design and construction of approximately 13 kilometers of rail line, nearly all of it underground, as part of a quadrupling of the Fortezza-Verona section of the high-speed railway south of the Brenner Base Tunnel. The contract is to create approximately 1,000 jobs, directly and indirectly, with a significant involvement of the supply chain.

The consortium partners include Ghella with 35% and Collini with 10%. Webuild has a 51% stake with subsidiary SELI at 4%.

Lot 3A, which has been identified as a strategic project for the development of sustainable mobility in Italy under the National Plan for Recovery and Resilience, will contribute to improving the international transport of cargo and the improvement of the country’s competitiveness. The rail line belongs to the strategic Munich-Verona corridor, as well as a broader program to upgrade transport services in Trento such as the bypass, which is expected to reduce more than 65,000 tons of CO2 every year.

The contract includes the construction of a natural tunnel – the Trento Tunnel of approximately 10.6 kilometers in length – and two short sections above ground alongside the existing line. Four tunnel-boring machines will be deployed to excavate the tunnel, with two working at either end of the projected tunnel. The rate of excavation is to reach between 15-20 meters a day, helping accelerate the work.
The bypass – known in Italian as the “Circonvallazione di Trento” – will be part of the southern access to the Brenner Base Tunnel. Webuild is working on three of the five sections – or lots – of this tunnel: Mules 2-3 and Isarco River Underpass in Italy, and Gola del Sil-Pfons in Austria.