The Webuild group (formerly Salini-Impregilo) conquers a new construction lot, the fourth in the series, of the new Brenner railway tunnel, a mammoth project involving Italy and Austria with the support of the European Union.
The lot in question, worth a total of 651 million euros, is on the Austrian side of the work and concerns one of the largest sections of the project on the Austrian side: the Sill-Pfons Gorge connection, for a length of 14.5 kilometers. The works will start as early as January 2022 and will end in the summer of 2028.
Webuild, including the Swiss subsidiary Csc Costruzioni, participates in the construction of the Gola del Sill-Pfons lot in a 50% joint venture with the Swiss company Implenia. The client of the works is Bbt Se, a European joint-stock company aimed at the construction of the maxi railway tunnel between Italy and Austria. A note from BBT explains: «The tender took place at European level according to the criterion of the most economically advantageous offer followed by a rigorous verification procedure. In the meantime, the legal deadlines for any appeal have expired, so it was possible to proceed with the definitive award of the contract ».
With this contract, which provides for the employment of 400 direct workers, Webuild strengthens its presence in the construction of the Brenner base tunnel which, with its total length of 55 kilometers, will be the longest railway tunnel in the world and one of the most complexes for orographic conditions.
Webuild is currently already involved in the construction of the Isarco and Mules 2-3 underpass lots and has already completed another lot in Austria, the Tulfes – Pfons lot, again for the client Bbt. Furthermore, Webuild is involved in the construction of the southern access sections to the Brenner base tunnel, between Fortezza and Ponte Gardena. For the excavation of the new Austrian lot, 2 Tbm (Tunnel Boring Machine, the so-called moles) will be used, among the most sophisticated technologies for mechanized excavation, with an excavation diameter of over 10 meters.