ITALY: Infrastructure manager RFI has selected a 51:49 consortium of Webuild and Implenia as low bidder for a €1·07bn contract to design and build the southern access route to the Brenner Base Tunnel.
Running mostly underground, the 22·5 km double-track alignment will diverge from the existing Brenner route at Ponte Gardena and run to the southern portal of the base tunnel at Fortezza. The work includes excavation of the 15·4 km Scaleres tunnel and the 6·3 km Gardena tunnel, plus the construction of a major bridge across the Isarco River at Val di Funes.
The new alignment is expected to increase the capacity of the route four-fold, as well as allowing through passenger and freight trains to run at significantly higher speeds. The existing double track line between Fortezza and Ponte Gardena will remain in use for local traffic and slower trains.
Webuild is already working on three major contracts for the Brenner Base Tunnel project itself: the Mules 2-3 and Tulfes – Pfons sections of the main bores and a tunnel that will take the line beneath the Isarco River, near the southern portal.
