Webuild (formerly Salini Impregilo) has a 70% stake in a consortium with Pizzarotti for the 鈧�367.2m (拢315m) design-and-build contract the Orsara-Bovino section of the Naples-Bari high-speed railway.
The contract, which is being commissioned by Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (Gruppo FS Italiane), will create an estimated 5,000 jobs.
The Orsara-Bovino section is part of an upgrade of the Naples-Benevento-Foggia-Bari railway, which is designed to double the line鈥檚 capacity in order to make rail transport more competitive than road. The upgrade will improve the rail network in the southeast with a high-speed/high-capacity service.
The Orsara-Bovino section is to be 11.8km long and support trains travelling at speeds ranging between 200 and 250 kilometres per hour. The project will double the capacity of the existing single-rail train service along this section, passing for the most part through a tunnel that will be 9.871km in length. It will also involve building a temporary connection of a double-rail line with the historic one for 1.08km, supporting trains travelling at speeds of up to 90 kilometres per hour.聽
The Naples-Bari railway will reduce by about half 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.
Two other sections of the railway being built by the Group 鈥� Naples-Cancello and Apice-Hirpinia 鈥� employ more than 2,200 people. The work involves a supply chain of approximately about 400 businesses.
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