TBMs Leucosia, Ligea and Mireille have joined TBM Partenope to excavate eight tunnels on Lot 1A of the railway in southern Italy.
This section, being built by the Webuild-led Consorzio Xenia, will connect Battipaglia to Romagnano.
With cutterheads of more than 13m diameter, Leucosia and Ligea are, together with Partenope, the three largest TBMs being operated by Webuild in Europe.
TBM Partenope is excavating the Saginara tunnel. TBM Leucosia has started on the 800m-long Serra Lunga and will then move to the Acerra and Petrolla tunnels, separated by line viaducts. TBM Ligea will excavate the 2.2km-long Piano Grasso tunnel, and later the Contursi tunnel.
TBM Mireille – refurbished after working on the Grand Paris Express – is excavating the more than 1km-long Caterina tunnel. It is the first TBM to be refurbished at Webuild’s Terni factory, a new facility dedicated to TBM refurbishment. Once the excavation and lining of the Caterina tunnel are complete, Mireille will move on to the Sicignano tunnel.
Excavation of the Cerreta natural tunnel using the traditional method will begin in the coming weeks. Construction is also under way on viaducts, including the route’s longest, which will cross the A2 Salerno–Reggio Calabria motorway. It will feature more than 100 spans, including a 120m-long railway arch bridge – the longest of its kind in Italy.
Lot 1A covers the province of Salerno and involves building 35km of high-speed railway between Battipaglia and Romagnano, including 20 tunnels and 19 viaducts.
Webuild also recently won the 22km Cosenza–Paola/San Lucido section, which includes the 15km-long Santomarco tunnel.
