Webuild has initiated the excavation of the Saginara Tunnel, a key component of the Salerno Reggio Calabria high-speed rail line, using its largest tunnel boring machine (TBM) to date.
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The massive TBM, named “Partenope,†will operate continuously, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to excavate the 3-kilometer tunnel in the Sele Valley, located in the province of Salerno.
This milestone marks a major advancement for the high-speed rail project, which is being carried out by a Webuild-led consortium on behalf of RFI (Gruppo FS Italiane).
The event was attended remotely by Matteo Salvini, Italy’s Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, as well as key figures including Lucio Menta, Special Commissioner for the Salerno Reggio Calabria High-Speed Rail Line, and Nicola Meistro, Webuild’s Rail Operations Manager for Italy, along with local authorities.
The “Partenope†TBM is an impressive piece of machinery, measuring 130 meters in length and weighing around 4,000 tonnes.
Its 13.46-meter diameter cutting head makes it the largest TBM ever deployed by Webuild in both Italy and Europe.
Powered by 18 electric motors generating 10 megawatts of energy, the machine will carve through the Saginara Tunnel, which runs between the municipalities of Campagna and Contursi Terme, offering a vital link on the rail route.
Alongside “Partenope,†Webuild is deploying three other TBMs for the Salerno Reggio Calabria high-speed rail project.
These machines are among the largest ever used by the company in Europe.
Two additional TBMs, currently being assembled, will excavate the Serra Lunga, Acerra, and Petrolla tunnels, while the other will focus on the Caterina and Sicignano tunnels.
A fourth TBM, which has been refurbished at Webuild’s cutting-edge Terni factory, will be used for the Piano Grassi and Contursi tunnels.
The Salerno Reggio Calabria high-speed rail project is crucial for improving sustainable mobility in Italy, with 19 projects currently underway in the southern regions.
These projects have created over 8,100 jobs, including both direct and subcontracted employees, and involved more than 5,400 supply chain companies.
As part of the broader initiative, Lot 1A—comprising 35 kilometers of rail and 20 tunnels—will play a key role in strengthening connections between northern and southern Italy, supporting regional development, and enhancing Italy’s competitiveness in Europe.
In nearly 120 years of applied engineering on more than 3,200 projects, the Group has built 14,140 kilometres of rail and metro lines, 82,533 kilometres of roads and highways, 1,020 kilometres of bridges and viaducts, 3,408 kilometres of tunnels, and 313 dams and hydropower plants.
Projects include the expansion of the Panama Canal, the Long Beach International Gateway bridge in California, the Third Bosphorus Bridge in Turkey, the Sydney Metro Northwest skytrain viaduct and bridge, the Kingdom Centre skyscraper in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and metro lines in Copenhagen, Paris, Rome, Milan, Doha and Riyadh.
Others under construction include the new Genoa Breakwater, the Brenner Base Tunnel, Line C of Rome’s metro network, the high-capacity railways between Genoa and Milan, and Naples and Bari, the PalermoCatania-Messina high-capacity railway, the Snowy 2.0 hydropower scheme in Australia, and the Trojena dam network for NEOM in Saudi Arabia. ■