Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI) awarded the consortium of Webuild (70%) and Impresa Pizzarotti (30%) a EUR 616 million contract to design and build the Nuova Enna – Dittaino rail section (Lot 4b) on the Palermo – Catania railway line in Sicily.
The contract covers the construction of a new 15 km rail line, 8.5 km of which will pass through three tunnels, and another 2 km across five viaducts. It also involves the construction of a train station at Enna and the modernisation of the existing Dittaino station.
Webuild says that key features of the bid under consideration include the quality of the design and the sustainable solutions to minimise the impact that the construction of the section will have on the surrounding area. Processes that contribute to the principles of a circular economy are another feature, such as the reuse of 99% of all the earth excavated, the recovery and reuse of rain and industrial water, energy consumption efficiency as well as the use of solar panels.
The construction of Lot 4b is expected to create 650 jobs, direct and indirectly, and involve a supply chain of 100 companies.
The construction of Nuova Enna – Dittaino rail section will be financed by Italy’s National Plan for Recovery and Resilience (PNRR).
Webuild is also involved in the construction of the Bicocca Catenanuova, another section of the Palermo – Catania railway situated on the TEN-T. Recently, the European Commission has approved a EUR 101 million ERDF funding for the modernisation of Palermo – Catania – Messina line.
When works will be completed along the Palermo – Catania axis, the journey time will be reduced to less than two hours. Progressive travel time reductions are expected already, thanks to the phased activation of the new sections of the line. Furthermore, the planned interventions will guarantee the speeding up of connections and increase the standards of regularity and punctuality of the trains.
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