Webuild makes twin breakthrough on Italian high-speed line

25 September 2020


Webuild Group is celebrating two breakthroughs on the 53km-long Terzo Valico del Giovi high-speed rail line between Milan and the port of Genoa in northern Italy. The double breakthroughs mean that nearly half of the 36km underground section has been completed.

The breakthroughs occurred on the 7km-long Serravalle Tunnel and the 27km-long Valico Tunnel. The latter, when finished, will be the longest rail tunnel in Italy. Worksites along the 17km excavated section can now be continuously connected.

Excavation of the Valico breakthrough was achieved by conventional open-face tunnelling and will be supplemented by other breakthroughs along the tunnel length. One of the tunnel’s features is the Camerone di Valico Nord, a 30m wide by 22m high cavern covering 540m2.

The Serravalle Tunnel breakthrough was achieved by ‘Giovanna’ – a 9.73m-diameter Seli EPB TBM which has now excavated 6.4km of the total 7km tunnel length, lining with 400mm-thick segments along the way. It has mined through the complex sedimentary succession of the Piemontese tertiary basin.

In addition to the construction of the main line, Webuild will also make connections to the rail network at four points: Voltri, Genova Parco Campasso, Novi Ligure and Tortona.

When finally completed, the Terzo Valico del Giovi high-speed rail line will reduce the 100-minute rail journey time between Genoa and Milan to 50 minutes. The US$8bn project is currently Italy’s largest tunnelling and infrastructure scheme and will form part of the Rhine-Alpine corridor of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) linking Genoa and Rotterdam.