Excavation has begun on the Melito Tunnel, the last of three major tunnels on the 18.7km Apice–Hirpinia section of Italy’s Naples–Bari high-speed/high-capacity railway.
Webuild, which is constructing the section for RFI, part of the FS Italiane Group, has deployed 1,600-tonne TBM Aurora for the 4.4km excavation through the Southern Apennines.
The TBM has 12.5m-diameter cutterhead, is approximately 100m long and is powered by 18 motors generating a combined 6.3MW.
The machine previously excavated the approximately 2km Grottaminarda Tunnel. It was then dismantled, moved across the Ufita River and reassembled for its final tunnel drive.
Aurora will work at depths of up to approximately 130m, installing more than 22,200 precast concrete segments to create the tunnel’s permanent lining. More than 140 workers will operate and maintain the TBM on a 24/7 basis.
The Melito breakthrough follows a series of recent milestones on the project. In May, Webuild completed the 6.5km Rocchetta Tunnel in just 18 months using TBM Futura. Rocchetta is the longest tunnel on the Apice–Hirpinia section, while Melito will be the second-longest.
The Apice–Hirpinia section crosses the provinces of Avellino and Benevento, with around 13km – almost 70% of its length – running through tunnels.
The project also includes Hirpinia Station, a two-level, four-track facility that will connect inland areas of Campania with Italy’s national high-speed rail network. Civil works on the station are complete, while construction of access infrastructure, including four roundabouts, eight road links and a new parking area, is progressing.
The latest tunnel works come after the opening last July of the Naples–Cancello section, also built by Webuild. That section connects the Naples–Bari route with the national high-speed network at Afragola High-Speed Station.
Webuild is constructing four sections of the Naples–Bari railway: Naples–Cancello, Apice–Hirpinia, Hirpinia–Orsara and Orsara–Bovino.
Once complete, the 145km railway will form part of the Scandinavian–Mediterranean Corridor of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), strengthening rail connections between Southern Italy, the rest of the country and the wider European network.
Across its Naples–Bari projects, Webuild says more than 3,000 jobs have been created and around 2,800 companies involved.
The railway is one of 21 projects Webuild is delivering across southern Italy, with a combined awarded value of more than €16bn.
