Salerno-Reggio Calabria High-Speed Railway, Lot 1A Battipaglia-Romagnano

Lot 1A Battipaglia-Romagnano represents a first significant milestone of the Salerno - Reggio Calabria HS railway. It will be a strategic route to connect the northern-southern axis of the Italian peninsula, allowing the South of Italy to improve its modern and fucntional interconnections in the related territories. The new connection will allow the various areas that are currently excluded from the service, when working fully, to have access to the HS railway system. These include: Cilento and Vallo di Diano, the Ionian coast and the higher and lower areas of Cosenza, the area of the Port of Gioia Tauro and the "Reggino" area.  

Lot 1A measures 35 km in length, and it will be possible to travel up to 300 km/h along it. The route travels approximately 18 km underground. It foresees 8 artificial tunnels for 4 km and 12 natural tunnels, of which 8 in total measure approximately 13 km. These will be excavated using 4 TBMs. There will also be 19 new viaducts measuring in total approximately 6 km.

The area concerned by the intervention of Lot 1A is located in the province of Salerno. Particularly, the railway rout develops from Battipaglia station crossing the municipalities of Battipaglia, Eboli, Campagna, Contursi Terme, Sicignano degli Alburni and Buccino. At Romagnano, a junction will also be built to interconnect the future HS line to the existing Potenza-Metaponto one.

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Mireille: Webuild’s first "refurbished" TBM

After excavating for the Grand Paris Express in Paris, TBM Mireille is the first to be refurbished at the Webuild Equipment & Machinery Group’s (WEM) maintenance facility in Terni for its new challenge: tunnels for the Salerno and Reggio Calabria line.

In April 2026, Mireille completed the Caterina Tunnel — a single-tube, single-track tunnel more than one kilometre long. With over 100 specialised technicians dedicated to its operation and maintenance, the TBM worked round the clock, seven days a week in full compliance with the strictest safety protocols. It traversed the northern part of the Lucanian Apennines, navigating a geologically complex terrain. It proceeded at a depth of approximately 90 metres, with peak advance rates of over 20 metres per day, installing over 4,000 segments for the lining of the tunnel. 

Having completed the Caterina Tunnel, Mireille will proceed to excavate the Sicignano Tunnel - a single-tube, single-track tunnel that is over 2.5 kilometres long. The two tunnels will be connected by viaduct. 

With a cutterhead over 10 metres in diametre, approximately 130 metres long and weighing 1,200 tons, “Mireille” is equipped with 11 motors generating a power of 3,850 kilowatts. It is estimated that “Mireille” will be able to advance at an average speed of 14 metres per day.

The TBM was named “Mireille” in honour of Mireille Agletiner, a former teacher deeply involved in the community life of the city of Chelles, a French municipality located in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region. 

The three sirens; Webuild's largest TBMs in Europe (Partenope, Leucosia and Ligea)

On Lot 1A, Mireille is at work alongside three gigantic TBMs: Partenope, Leucosia, and Ligea.

These are innovatively designed TBMs with a 13.46-metre diametre cutterhead, making them the largest TBMs deployed in Europe by Webuild. All of them are operating simultaneously on Lot 1A.

TBM Partenope is pursuing its journey through the hills of the Sele Valley, excavating the 3-kilometre-long Saginara Tunnel, which extends between the municipalities of Campagna and Contursi Terme. Leucosia is excavating the Serra Lunga Tunnel, which is over 800 metres long and has a single tube and double track. Once the excavation and lining of this tunnel is complete, the TBM will excavate the Acerra Tunnel (approximately 250 metres long, single-tube and double-track) and the Petrolla Tunnel (over 1.2 kilometres long, single-bore, and double-track), which will be separated by viaducts. Ligea is excavating the Piano Grasso Tunnel. , Over 2.2 kilometres long, it is single-tube and double-track. Once the excavation and lining of this tunnel are complete, Ligea will do the ContursiTunnel (over 1.5 kilometres long, single-tube and double-track). In this case as well, the two tunnels are separated by viaduct.

Partenope, Leucosia, and Ligea, whose names were chosen through a public contest, evoke the myth of the Sirens who lived on the rocks of the Gulf of Salerno. 

Approximately 130 metres long and weighing 4,000 tons, they are equipped with 18 motors that generate 10 megawatts of power. The mechanised excavation work carried out by them involves over 300 specialised technicians responsible for their operation and maintenance. It is estimated that Partenope, Leucosia, and Ligea will be able to advance at an average speed of 13 metres per day.

Webuild's largest TBM in Europe, general features

The TBM CREC 1418, the first to be used on the SA/RC, is a mechanical mole, a tunnel boring machine that is extremely innovative. It will bore the terrain with its cutting-head that measures 13.46 metres in diameter, making it the largest TBM to be used by Webuild in Italy and Europe. It is also a mobile factory as when it excavates, it also lines the tunnels, so that when it has passed, the tunnel will be complete. The TBM measures approximately 130 metres and weighs 4,000 tons. It is equipped with 18 engines generating 10 MW. Working 24/7, it will see over 100 highly-specialised workers engaged, some operating it, some for its maintenance.  The TBM 1418 is an EPB (Earth pressure Balance) machine capable of avoiding ground-level collapses, thanks to the earth pressure function within the excavating chamber. 

Sustainability and Innovation

The Lot 1A TBM is a "green TBM" that can lower by 20% the TBM's energy consumption (KWh) with some of its innovative features that reduce energy consumption and that were developed by the Webuild Group with the supplier. Like the "Eco Cruise" and the “Automatic Utilities Management System”, a highly-efficient component that allows optimizing the machine's parameters compared to traditional standards. These components allow regulating the TBM's functioning parameters to maximise both the advancement speed, while also reducing energy consumption with automatic switch-off of unused systems. 

The TBM is moreover equipped with improvement systems and cutting-edge technologies that allow not just to speed up the machine's advancement in highly driving contexts, but also to optimize the tunnel lining phase, increasing the machine's production performance. In particular, adopting Continuous Mining allows carrying out the installation of the lining segment ring made of precast concrete as the TBM advances, almost totally eliminating the dead times normally needed to assembly the curved lining ring. These improvements will allow to speed up the excavation, maximising the continuous advancement, but also to reduce any need to carry out programmed stops of the machine to allow maintenance programmes on the machine and on the essential equipment used for the entire excavation and advancement. The continuous mining operation modality is as of today one of the most advanced technologies when building projects with a TBM, which significantly has driven the technological evolution of the EPB type machines. 

The TBM is also equipped with a Robot that is used for high-pressure flushing, within the excavation chamber, therefore preventing clogging phenomena typical of clay and other type of terrains.