Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI) and the Iricav Due consortium signed a EUR 1.82 billion contract to start the executive design and work of the first so-called construction lot of rail Crossing of Vicenza as part of the new Verona – Padua high-speed line that is contributing to modernising transport in northern Italy.
Iricav Due consortium, consisting of Hitachi Rail STS (17.05%) and Webuild Italia (82.95%) is also working on other lots of the railway, which includes Hitachi Rail STS with 17%, and Lamaro Appalti and Fintecna as minority partners.
The new lot will run for about 6.2 km from the town of Altavilla Vicentina to the Vicenza Station. It will also include the renewal of 4.8 km of the existing line. This will allow for an increase in high-speed, regional and freight transport services along the Milan – Venice route. It will guarantee a better separation of traffic flows, with a resulting increase in capacity and regularity of service, a reduction in travel times and an increase in train frequency.
Under the contract, Webuild is responsible for the design and for the civil works and installation of the technologies. Hitachi Rail will be responsible for the design and installation of ERTMS level 2 system that allows for more yet safer train traffic in order to make efficient use of rail networks. The traditional track-based signalling is replaced by radio communications between the trains and the Radio Block Center (RBC).
The Verona – Padua high-speed line, whose total length will be 76.5 km, is subdivided into three lots. For the first between Verona and Bivio Vicenza that will be 44.2 km long a EUR 2.4 billion contract has been signed in August 2020. Construction on this section started in December 2020 and has reached 35% of completion. For the rail Crossing of Vicenza (the second lot), with this signed contract the executive design work and preliminary activities have begun. The third lot for the Vicenza – Padua section of more than 26 km is in the final design phase.
On all of the lots, Webuild is overseeing the design, monitoring the impact on the environment, and taking responsibility for the civil works and installation of the latest in technology. Hitachi Rail will bring the ERTMS digital signalling system, the most advanced in Europe that allows for more yet safer train traffic in order to make efficient use of rail networks.
When the line is finished, it will complete the connection between Milan and Venezia allowing people and goods to travel sustainably across the heart of one of Italy’s most industrialised areas. Being a part of the Mediterranean Corridor of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), it will bring Italy closer to the rest of Europe, strengthening the transport system in which the European Union is investing to allow interconnections and sustainable mobility to grow on the continent.
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