MILAN, October 10, 2019 – Salini Impregilo enters the Norwegian market for the first time with the signing of a €388-million civil works contract to upgrade a 13.6-kilometre section of a rail line between the towns of Nykirke and Barkaker south of Oslo. The contract is the latest effort by the Group to expand in countries that are investing in infrastructure and carry a lower risk profile, such as Australia and the United States.

Salini Impregilo, which heads a joint-venture with Impresa Pizzarotti & C with a 51% stake, won the contract from Bane NOR, the state-owned company responsible for Norway’s railway infrastructure.

Under the terms of the contract, set to be completed by 2022, Salini Impregilo and its joint-venture partner will design and build a double-track line, including two bridges, three tunnels and a station near the town of Skoppum.

The project concerns a section of the so-called Vestfold Line, which is being modernised to reduce travel times and increase railway passenger capacity. The Norwegian National Transport Plan has as one of its priorities the establishment of a continuous double-track rail line between Oslo and Tønsberg by 2024. The line between Nykirke and Barkaker to be upgraded by Salini Impregilo is one of the two remaining single-track sections required to meet this goal. Once they are both upgraded, travel time between Oslo and Tønsberg will be about an hour, with a frequency of up to four trains an hour in either direction. The completion of the double-track rail line will result in a fast, modern and more sustainable service between Oslo and Tønsberg, favouring economic development beyond the Norwegian capital.

The contract joins a growing number of projects being developed by Salini Impregilo in support of sustainable mobility, ranging from metro to light rail transit to high-speed rail. In Copenhagen, it recently delivered the Cityringen metro line, which will give a boost to the city’s efforts to become the world’s first carbon-neutral capital by 2025. In Paris, it is working on the Grand Paris Express, an extension of the city’s rail and metro network stretching for about 200 kilometres to connect better the periphery with the centre.