• Webuild to lead consortium in design and construction of approximately 13 kilometres of underground rail line

• Lot 3A part of project to quadruple Fortezza-Verona railway for strategic Munich-Verona corridor

• Construction of section to create approximately 1,000 jobs, direct and indirect, with a significant involvement of local suppliers

MILAN, February 8, 2023 – Webuild and its consortium partners have won a €934-million contract from Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI) 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 kilometres 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.

Webuild’s 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 programme to upgrade transport services in Trento such as the bypass, which is expected to reduce more than 65,000 tonnes of CO2 every year.

The contract includes the construction of a natural tunnel – the Trento Tunnel of approximately 10.6 kilometres in length – and two short sections above ground alongside the existing line. Four tunnel-boring machines (TBMs) 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 and 20 metres 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. The Group has completed Lot Tulfes-Pfons in Austria, while working on the Fortezza-Ponte Gardena access line in Italy that also is part of the Munich-Verona corridor.

Webuild is a leading global player in the sustainable mobility sector, having a track record of more than 13,600 kilometres of rail and metro lines. In Italy, it is participating in the development of the Naples-Bari high-speed railway, in particular sections Naples-Cancello, Apice-Hirpinia, Orsara-Hirpinia and Orsara-Bovino. In Sicily, it is working on the Biccoca-Catenanuova and Nuova Enna-Dittaino sections of the high-capacity railway between Palermo and Catania. Also in Sicily, it is building sections Fiumefreddo-Taormina/Letojanni and Taormina-Giampilieri along the Messina-Catania high-capacity railway.

https://www.webuildgroup.com/en/media/press-releases/webuild-consortium-wins-934-mln-rail-bypass-contract-in-trento-italy