MILAN, November 29, 2019 – Salini Impregilo is near completing the executive project that will lead to the start of work along the Apice-Hirpinia section of a high-speed/high-capacity railway between Naples and Bari, a project aimed at helping develop southern Italy’s economy with improved connections with the other parts of the country and Europe in general.

Salini Impregilo’s Nicola Meistro, COCIV General Manager and PERGENOVA Chief Executive, spoke of the benefits that the project would bring to the region at a roundtable held during a convention hosted by the Avellino chapter of the Confindustria industrial confederation in Grottaminarda, a town situated between Naples and Bari. Italian Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Paola De Micheli; Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane Group) Chief Executive and General Manager Maurizio Gentile, the project’s extraordinary commissioner; Ferrovie dello Stato Chief Executive and General Manager Gianfranco Battisti, and Confindustria President Vincenzo Boccia were also present.

Salini Impregilo is leading a consortium including Astaldi that will build the €608.1-million section of 18 kilometres with three tunnels, four viaducts and a station at Hirpinia. It is also working on another sector of the line some 15.9 kilometres in length between Naples and Cancello. It will have a tunnel of 2.5 kilometres, four viaducts and a station at Acerra.

“The experience with the Genoa bridge shows that it is possible to build well and quickly. There needs a model of collaboration among public entities, clients and builders to work together in the interest of the project, the area involved and the entire country. Infrastructure is a word that is linked to a vision of the future and long-term projects that need favourable market conditions,” Meistro said. “There must be a strong partnership, a clear and balanced distribution of risks between the client and the company that is developing the project. An efficient public administration is also needed to allow for the work to be done according to the conditions set out by the contract.”

Salini Impregilo has built some of the most strategic railways in Italy, such as the so-called Direttissima between Rome and Florence, the most modern lines between Milan and Turin and between Bologna and Florence. It is currently developing the Terzo Valico dei Giovi, a high-speed/high-capacity railway between Genoa and Milan which, like the Naples-Bari line, will become part of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), a European initiative to connect transport networks across the continent. In Sicily, Salini Impregilo is also involved in the development of the Bicocca-Catenanuova railway line, part of a project to improve the transport link between Palermo and Catania, reducing travel times to under two hours.

For more than a century, Salini Impregilo has built 7,000 kilometres of railways and nearly 500 kilometres of metro lines. Recognition of its expertise and experience has led to the Group becoming involved in megaprojects like the first true high-speed railway in the United States that will quicken to 90 minutes the time it takes to travel the 390 kilometres between Dallas and Houston in Texas.