Two new Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) now ready to begin excavating the tunnel of the Southern Apennines (Appennino Meridionale) in the Rochetta and Orsara tunnel along the Naples-Bari high-speed railway line. A third TBM will be used in Sicily for the Taormina Tunnel on the Catania-Messina railway line

Webuild active in the South of Italy with 19 projects with 6,800 people at work. Approximately 850 people have already been hired since the beginning of the year in the South of Italy 

Apice (BN), July 23, 2024 – Works of the three TBMs, the large mechanical machines that will excavate the new tunnels of the Naples-Bari high-speed railway line and of the Catania-Messina high-capacity one, built by Webuild and commissioned by Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI) have taken off at the same time. The Italian Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Matteo Salvini, RFI Chairman Dario Lo Bosco, RFI CEO Gianpiero Strisciuglio and Webuild CEO Pietro Salini were present to witness the start of the excavations. 

«Today, it is an important day for the South of Italy and for Italy as a whole – said Salini – because the concomitant launching of the works carried out by these TBMs demonstrates that things are also speeding up in those communities and territories that during the past years did not receive huge infrastructural investments. Building modern infrastructures in the South of Italy, technological challenges that are also cultural revolutions, is the best optimistic driver for Italy. Today, our task is to build these works and to build them well, respecting the timings, costs and the law obviously, while collaborating with the authorities and the police force, so as to represent a benchmark for the sector, just as we are already doing when it comes to safety at work.  This is our top priority. Our Group has the lowest accident work rate, globally. And this extraordinary result can only be achieved because we believe in what we do, and because we invest daily both in terms of commitment and resources. The Webuild Group will soon launch a virtual infrastructure museum that focuses on the history of the infrastructure sector from the early 1900s to this day. And the most extraordinary aspect of this huge historical and photographic heritage are people's faces. What makes the difference today are the new instruments that we now have, the skills and our trust in the future, thanks to all the women and men that came before us», he concluded.

Along the Naples-Bari railway line, the TBM named ‘Futura’, with its cutting head measuring over 12 metres in diameter, began excavating at Apice (BN) along the Apice-Hirpinia lot, the Rocchetta Tunnel, which is approximately 6.4 km long. Concomitantly, along the Orsara-Bovino section, developing mostly in territories of the Puglia region, excavation works of the even numbered tunnel barrel of the Orsara Tunnel, have now taken off, the latter measuring in total approximately 10 km in length.  The TBM named ‘Marina’ has a cutting-head of almost 10 metres in diameter. It will start excavating from the entrance on the Bari side. Thanks to its ‘continuous mining’ technology, the precast concrete segments for the final tunnel lining will be laid as the TBM excavates the tunnel, therefore speeding up works.

Works carried out by the Webuild Group along the Naples-Bari railway line also proceed, in parallel, on the other sections: in fact, on the Apice-Hirpinia section works to excavate the Grottaminarda tunnel proceed, having already reached approximately 90% of the total; while on the Naples-Cancello section, excavation works in the Casalnuovo tunnel carry on, in line with the forecasts, in hyperbaric conditions, a technique that is both innovative and sustainable, and that has been used for the very first time in Italy. By the end of the year, the mechanized excavation with a TBM of the odd numbered tunnel barrel of the Orsara tunnel will also begin. The to-be future line between Naples and Bari will measure in total 145 km. Once works are finished as expected, in 2028, it will be possible to move between these two cities in just 2 hours against the current approximate 4. 

In Sicily, the TBM named ‘Lucia’ began excavating the odd track of the Taormina Tunnel, measuring approximately 6.1 km, at Trappitello (ME). This TBM has a cutting edge that measures over 9 metres in diameter and has highly efficient components and a ‘continuous mining’ system. The precast concrete segments that line the tunnel are produced within Webuild's highly innovative "Roboplant" factory in Belpasso. Works on the Palermo-Catania-Messina route continue at full pace, where Webuild today is in overall engaged in building 7 railway projects for 200 kilometres of network, with 175 km of tunnels. The entire infrastructure will allow, when fully operating, to reduce travel times to 2 hours between Catania and Palermo (60 minutes less compared to current times), and to 45 minutes between Messina and Catania (30 minutes less).

The Webuild Group, a global leader in underground excavations, has 58 TBMs (the number includes those being assembled, ordered and to order for planned projects). Of these, 15 are already at work in the Group’s global construction sites. In Italy, a total of approximately 40 TBMs are foreseen to be used: of these, 31 in the South of Italy, where Webuild is carrying out 19 projects that, as of today, already see 6,800 people at work (directly and indirectly hired), with the involvement of approximately 4,300 supply chain companies since works began. Approximately 850 people have already been hired in the construction sites of the South of Italy just in 2024.

source: Webuild Group media release.