Webuild Group has won a contract for the executive design and construction of the Orsara-Hirpinia section of the Naples-Bari high-speed railway. This is valued at €1.075bn euros (1.28bn USD).
The commissioning party is Rete Ferroviaria Italiana S.p.A. (RFI). Webuild will lead the project with a 70 percent stake in the consortium. Its partner will be Pizzarotti, which will hold the remaining 30 percent. This contract follows the recent awarding of another section of the same line between Orsara and Bovino.
The new Orsara-Hirpinia section will be approximately 28km long, mainly running through a tunnel 27km in length. Trains will able to travel at speeds of up to 250 km per hour within the tunnel, while outside they will reach 200 km per hour.
The Bovino-Orsara section will open temporarily with the construction of a temporary link to the historic line next to the current Orsara station. Work on the Orsara-Hirpinia will begin on the Bari side, next to the railway already built for the Bovino-Orsara section, with the demolition of the temporary rail link to and development of the Orsara station.
The Orsara-Hirpinia contract is part of the upgrading of the Naples-Bari railway, which will serve as a strategic axis for the development of sustainable mobility in the region, halving the travel time between Naples and Bari to just two hours. It will also bring northern and southern Italy closer together, bringing the time to travel between Milan and Bari down to six hours.
The construction of the line will support the local economy and create jobs in the region. Two other sections of the railway being built by Webuild – Naples-Cancello and Apice-Hirpinia – employ more than 2,200 people and involve a supply chain of approximately 400 businesses.
