Milan, July 19, 2021 - The Bicocca-Catenanuova railway construction site is a symbol of Europe's sustainable mobility. The Italian Undersecretary of State for Sustainable Infrastructure and Mobility Giancarlo Cancelleri today visited the site of the sustainabile mobility project. The Bicocca-Catenanuova section of the Palermo-Catania railway line in Sicily is currently being built by the Webuild Group.

The Extraordinary Commissioner of the Italian Government for the construction of the HS/HC Palermo-Catania-Messina axis, Filippo Palazzo and the Webuild General Manager Global Operations Claudio Lautizi also attended. The delegation carried out an inspection of the work areas, which show an overall project progress of 30%.

Webuild, together with Astaldi, integrated in Webuild through the composition with creditors as part of Progetto Italia, is currently engaged in building this infrastructure whose client is Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (FS Group). As of today the project involves more than 350 direct and indirect employees, and a supply chain of over 300 Italian companies, of which 184 are local companies.

The Bicocca-Catenanuova section, part of the Palermo-Catania railway line, included by the Italian Government in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, will connect the two main Sicilian cities at a maximum speed of 200 km/h. It is currently the most important infrastructure under construction in Sicily.

The contract, awarded to the Webuild Group consortium for a total value of approximately €207 million, includes the executive design and execution of the doubling of a 37.4-kilometre-long railway section. The contract is part of a larger RFI project which, once completed, will reduce travelling time between Catania and Palermo to less than two hours, with consequent benefits in terms of traffic, and CO2 emissions.

The Palermo-Catania project is part of the initiative for developing sustainable mobility promoted by the European Union, to create the TEN-T European Corridors system, which will connect and improve connections in the continent. The Webuild Group a global leader in the sustainable mobility sector, is actively involved in this infrastructural development programme., The Group has a track record of 13,637 kilometres of railways and metros built and is currently building other major infrastructure works in Italy such as the Terzo Valico dei Giovi, a high-speed-capacity line (HS-HC) which will allow the connection between Genoa and Rotterdam along the Rhine-Alps Corridor, the HS/HC line between Naples and Bari as well as And, also in Sicily, the Giampilieri – Fiumefreddo section (the 2nd functional lot of Taormina – Giampilieri) of the doubling works for the high-capacity Messina-Catania railway line.