• Executive design and construction planned to double the Paola-Cosenza stretch of the Salerno-Reggio Calabria high-speed/high-capacity line, which Webuild is also working on along Lot 1A Battipaglia-Romagnano
• Works of the Paola-Cosenza section include doubling over 22 km of line, nearly all of which is underground, including the new Santomarco Tunnel, which will be just over 15 km long

Milan, 19 August 2025 –The Webuild Group, in a consortium, has won a new contract for the new high-speed/high-capacity Salerno-Reggio Calabria railway line. As part of a consortium, the Group was awarded the €1.6 billion contract (Webuild Group’s share is 60%), which covers construction of the Paola-Cosenza doubling section. This crosses approximately 22,2 km of Calabria, underground nearly all the way. The main work in the project, commissioned by RFI (FS Italiane Group), is the new Santomarco Tunnel, which is over 15 km long and is considered a strategic intervention on the line.

The project will significantly improve the capacity and efficiency of the railway connection between the Tyrrhenian coast and inland areas of Calabria, ensuring better accessibility to Cosenza and strengthening the Bari-Taranto-Gioia Tauro freight route. The new Santomarco Tunnel will be separated about 100 metres from the existing single-track tunnel, which will be decommissioned once the work is complete. Four tunnel boring machines (TBMs) will be used to excavate the double-tube, single-track tunnel.

Works will be built by Webuild, leading the consortium with Ghella, Pizzarotti, and SELI, the Group subsidiary specializing in tunnelling, with an estimated employment of up to 1,500 people, including direct and third-party personnel. The route will cross the Province of Cosenza, passing through the municipalities of Paola, San Lucido, Rende, Montalto Uffugo, San Vincenzo la Costa, and San Fili. A total of nine railway bridges and two viaducts are planned. One viaduct, 350 metres long, will cross the A2 motorway; a second, 205 metres long, will cross the Settimo stream. A new station will also be built in Montalto Uffugo to serve the territory and the university campus in Rende.

This work is a key step in completing the new high-speed/high-capacity Salerno-Reggio Calabria line. It will contribute to improve the economic and social development of Southern Italy as part of the Scandinavian-Mediterranean corridor in the TEN-T Network, a strategic axis connecting the southern part of the peninsula with Northern Italy and Europe.

Construction of the entire line will guarantee fast, high-capacity rail transport to areas that are currently excluded, such as Cilento, Vallo di Diano, the Ionian coast, Cosenza, and the Reggino area, favouring economic growth and tourism. Once complete, the work will reduce the travel time between Rome and Reggio Calabria.

On the same Salerno-Reggio Calabria line, Webuild is already constructing Lot 1A Battipaglia-Romagnano, the first step in the entire infrastructure, involving 35 km of new line and the junction with the Potenza-Metaponto section. For this section, Webuild Group has started the engine of the largest mole (TBM) in Europe in recent months to excavate the Saginara Tunnel. As of today, the Webuild Group will build approximately 60 km on the high-speed railway section between Salerno and Reggio Calabria.

With the awarding of the works to double the Paola-Cosenza stretch of the high-speed Salerno-Reggio Calabria railway line, the projects that are being built by Webuild in the South of Italy, including the islands, are now 19, among which the large works that foresee building over 320 kilometres of high-speed and high-capacity railway lines. Webuild, to build these large projects, as of today, is employing 8,700 people (direct and third-party personnel), involving 7,600 supply chain companies since works have begun.