ITALY: Infrastructure manager RFI awarded a consortium led by Webuild a €934m contract to design and build the 13 km Trento bypass, most of it in tunnel.
This section is part of the Italian section of the Verona – München corridor, which will link the southern portal of the Brenner Base Tunnel at Fortezza with Verona.
The consortium is led by Webuild Group (51% Webuild and 4% Seli), and includes Ghella (35%) and Collini (10%).
The contractors will have to design and build the 13 km double-track bypass around Trento, 10·6 km of which will be in tunnel with the remaining surface segments forming junctions to and from the existing railway.
The tunnel will be excavated with four tunnel boring machines, with a pair heading from each end to the middle. This technology will allow work to advance at about 15-20 m per day.
Webuild is already working on three major contracts for the Brenner Base Tunnel itself: the Mules 2-3 and Tulfes – Pfons sections of the main bores and a tunnel that will take the railway beneath the Isarco River, near the southern portal.
