Webuild S p A : wins €1.003B High-Capacity railway contract in Sicily. Work to double line between Messina and Catania

MILAN, March 19, 2021 - The Webuild Group has won a contract worth €1.003 billion to double the high-capacity railway between the cities of Messina and Catania in Sicily along the Giampilieri-Fiumefreddo section, known as the Second Functional Taormina-Giampilieri Lot. It is the latest project on the Italian island to be assigned to Webuild to support the development of sustainable mobility and provide work for the local supply chain.

The project, commissioned by Rete Ferroviaria Italiana - RFI (Gruppo FS Italiane), will be led by Webuild in a consortium in which it will have a 70% stake. Partner Pizzarotti will have the remaining 30%.

Work on the lot entails the construction of a new railway for 28.3 kilometres that will include the civil and related works such as electrification, signalling and communications. It will also foresee the excavation of two natural single tunnels, six parallel tunnels and seven viaducts.

The Taormina-Giampilieri lot will be part of a new line between Messina and Catania that will join the existing one ahead of the Fiumfreddo station, then reconnect to it at the Giampilieri station. Most of the line will be through tunnels and further away from the coast than the existing line. It will include a hub at Fiumefreddo, a new underground station at Taormina, five new open-air stops. The Letojanni station will remain.

In Sicily, the Webuild Group is already working on the Bicocca-Catenanuova section of the Palermo-Catania railway that will allow trains to go at speeds of up to 200 kilometres per hour. It is developing the €192-million project in a consortium that employs 430 people, directly and indirectly, as well as a supply chain of nearly 200 businesses, mostly local. The Palermo-Catania and Messina-Catania lines belong to a sustainable mobility initiative promoted by the European Union to create the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) network to connect and improve the functioning of the continent's rail network. With a track record of 13,637 kilometres of rail and metro lines, Webuild is working on similar projects elsewhere in Italy, such as the Terzo Valico dei Giovi, a high-speed/high-capacity railway to connect Genova with Rotterdam along the TEN-T's Rhine-Alpine Corridor. It is also working on the high-capacity railway between Naples and Bari.