The Iricav 2 consortium has begun ahead of schedule the construction works for Verona-Vicenza high-speed rail section part of Verona – Padua high-speed railway.
The project has a value of EUR 2.7 billion of the EUR 4.8 billion which is the total cost of the high-speed railway line between Verona and Padua.
The consortium will first clear the ground of any possible war ordnances where a tunnel is to be built in the municipality of San Martino Buonalbergo to allow the railway to pass under the A4 highway in eastern Verona.
By the end of December, the consortium will start the selection process for the suppliers that will work on the first lot by using an innovative qualification system in full respect of the European Union directive. After publishing a notice about the system and the accompanying rules on its website and the Gazzetta Ufficiale (the Official Gazette), the consortium will proceed with the selection of the main suppliers in a preliminary phase before negotiating with a limited number of them.
The first functional lot will run 44.2 km crossing 13 municipalities to quadruple the existing railway and improve the quality of the service along it. The Verona-Vicenza high-speed rail will also strengthen the railway’s links to the European network and help reduce the impact on the environment as well as the number of road accidents. Under the EUR 2.5 billion contract, which was signed in August, the construction works are expected to be completed by 2026.
The entire Verona-Padua high-speed railway is an important transport link across the Italy’s northeast area and a new contributor to a revival in the economy and employment in the infrastructure sector. The work is to create about 4,000 direct and indirect jobs.
The project, part of the high-speed railway between Milan and Venice, will become part of the Mediterranean Corridor that will link Spain and Ukraine.
As one of the strategic corridors of the Trans-European Transport Network, it will connect southwestern Europe with countries to the east. The corridor will also facilitate greater traffic between Europe and Asia. Within Europe, it will handle traffic between the southern and eastern regions. With the addition of the line between Milan and Venice to Italy’s national network, 75% of the country’s population will have access to high-speed rail service.
The first functional section is one of five key projects in Italy being developed by the Webuild Group. They include the link from the Bicocca-Catenanuova section of a railway expansion between Palermo and Catania, to the Terzo Valico dei Giovi that will improve connections between the port system on the Ligurian coast and the main rail networks in northern Italy and Europe. Another project involves the Brenner Base Tunnel that will link Verona with Munich, to the Naples-Cancello section of the Naples-Bari railway line. Such infrastructure under construction provide work for about 5,000 small- and medium-sized businesses along the supply chain combined value of EUR 4.4 billion.
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