The project includes the doubling of the 37.5-kilometre Bicocca and Catenanuova section of a railway line that runs between Palermo and Catania in Sicily, Italy. The contract includes new railway headquarters, a superstructure, the installation of signalling and communication systems, electrical substations to power the trains, the renovation of the Bicocca station and the construction of a new station at Motta Sant'Anastasia.

The Bicocca-Catenanuova project belongs to an initiative of the European Union to create the so-called TEN-T network to connect and improve the functioning of the continent's railway lines, while integrating the South-Eastern railway network with the High Speed-High Capacity system and increasing rail freight transport.

The works are carried out almost entirely on the surface, with the construction of viaducts up to 500 metres long that cross the waterways: the Simeto and the Buttaceto. These are complex and large-scale works, with earth movements for 1.45 million cubic metres, and many small crossing works. All this while the traditional line continues to work.

The project is carried out with a deep attention for the environment, precisely because it develops along the Catania countryside. This is the work of the Centro Studi di Economia Applicata all’Ingegneria, of which the University of Catania is a member, engaged in the application of remote sensing techniques that use high-resolution satellite images to map the area affected by the excavations, and ensure that agricultural crops are not harmed.