Naples, 2 March 2017

The tender for the executive design and construction of the Naples-Cancello branch on the new Naples-Bari High Speed/High Capacity line has been awarded.

The 397 million euro contract has been awarded by Italferr, the engineering division of the FS Italiane Group, acting on behalf of Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI), to the Salini Impregilo – Astaldi temporary consortium.

“Awarding the contract for the Naples-Cancello branch is an important step forwards in the construction of the Naples-Bari HS/HC line”, commented Maurizio Gentile, CEO of RFI and Government Commissioner for the works. “We are making positive progress on all the targets set by the 2014 ‘Unblock Italy’ Law, in line with the schedule planned and making the so-called ‘iron cure’ really come true”.

The new line, which will make it easier to travel from Bari to Naples and Rome, will be connected to the new Naples Afragola high-speed station opening in June, extending the rail network to the north of Naples and facilitating links to regional services.

The new rail line (more than 15 km, 4 km of which in viaducts and 3 km through tunnels), will cross the territories of the municipalities of Casoria, Casalnuovo, Afragola and Acerra. The project also includes building the station, on a viaduct, to serve the Le Porte di Napoli shopping mall and new stations in Casalnuovo (underground) and Acerra, linking to the Circumvesuviana railway.

The new Naples-Bari HS/HC line, costing a total of approx. 6.2 billion euros, is one of the works in the “Unblock Italy” law, aiming to simplify and accelerate the construction of strategic and urgent infrastructures for the country, and will be part of the European TEN-T Scandinavian-Mediterranean rail corridor.