With PNRR support, project embraces challenge of sustainable mobility and decarbonisation of transportation in Europe

• 5,000 workers and more than 2,500 businesses involved since start of work on one of the most complex engineering projects in Europe

• Project to improve competitiveness of Liguria region and Italy together with new breakwater that Webuild is to start building

GENOA, April 3, 2023 – A delegation of the European Parliament Committee on Transport and Tourism visited today the construction site of the Progetto Unico Terzo Valico dei Giovi-Nodo di Genova, a project being developed by Webuild for Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI) of the Gruppo Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane with Italferr and supervised by Extraordinary Commissioner Calogero Mauceri.

Delegation members received an update on the progress of work on the challenging project under a mountain range and 600 metres below its peaks. Once completed, it will be the longest railway tunnel in Italy. A project of national significance that, together with a new breakwater (Nuova Diga Foranea) to be developed for the port of Genoa by Webuild, will redefine the position of the Liguria region and northern Italy within Europe’s logistical axis.

The delegation led by Committee Chair Karima Delli was accompanied by Edoardo Rixi, Italy’s Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport; Extraordinary Commissioner Calogero Mauceri, and officials from RFI and Webuild.

The committee’s visit confirms the project’s importance beyond Italy’s borders in light of the singular challenge of decarbonising transport across the European continent. The project is also a big opportunity for the country in terms of employment and the economic impact on the region. It has employed 5,000 people directly and indirectly and more than 2,500 suppliers since the beginning of works.

The high-speed/high-capacity railway will have a combined length of 53 kilometres, 70% of which will be underground. It will cross 14 municipalities in the provinces of Genoa and Alessandria. The railway will have three tunnels, the longest being the Valico. The work that is being done on various fronts is deploying two tunneling methods: the traditional drill and blast, and the mechanised method with the use of tunnel-boring machines (TBMs). The railway will become an important part of the Rhine-Alpine Corridor of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T). Travel times by train between Genoa and Milan will be reduced by 33% and is expected to contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions by 55%.

Webuild is working on 17 projects for the TEN-T that will cover approximately 500 kilometres across Italy. The projects – engineering feats that will improve the country’s competitiveness – include the Brenner Base Tunnel, which will be the longest railway tunnel in the world; four lots of the high-speed/high-capacity rail between Naples and Bari that will reduce travel times between Campania and Puglia; and four lots for the new railway running along Palermo-Catania-Messina.