Final breakthrough in the first tunnel of the Genoa Junction project  

Genoa, December 21, 2021 - Excavation activities of the new San Tomaso tunnel, a strategic part of the Terzo Valico dei Giovi – Genoa Junction One Project, and the first of the Genoa railway junction, were completed today. Today’s breakthrough marks 83% completion of the underground excavation activities of the Junction project.

The Genoa Junction project will strengthen regional and metropolitan connections, by quadrupling the Genoa Voltri-Sampierdarena line, and by building two new tracks (sixfold) between the railway hubs of Piazza Principe and Brignole. The Client is RFI - Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (FS Group). Works are carried out by the General Contractor led by Webuild under the superivision of the Government’s Extraordinary Commissioner, Calogero Mauceri. 

The new San Tomaso single-track tunnel, approximately 1500-metre-long, runs from the entrance to the Genova Brignole station up to the existing section of the San Tomaso Tunnel, where the underground level of Genoa Piazza Principe is located.

The Genoa Junction project involves building two further tunnels: the New Colombo Tunnel, 1,409 meters long; and the Polcevera Tunnel, 2,167 metres long. Their construction will allow an increase in the capacity of the lines near the Genoa Junction, also potentially increasing the train frequency, by separating regional and metropolitan trains from long-distance and freight ones, and by connecting the last mile of the Terzo Valico dei Giovi to the Port of Prà -Voltri. 

The Terzo Valico dei Giovi- Genoa Junction is one of the most important sustainable infrastructures currently under construction in Italy, involving a supply chain of over 2,300 companies and employing about 5,000 people. Once completed, it will reach a total of 53 kilometres. It will increase Italy's competitiveness, giving it a more central role in trans-European connections. It will also make Genoa's network and its port increasingly more functional as an international hub, due to the interconnections to Turin, Milan and subsequently Europe. In terms of sustainability it will result in a 33% reduction in travel times, between Genoa and Milan, thereby reducing CO2 emissions by 55% compared to road transport.