The contract for the Hirpinia-Orsara section is part of the upgrading of the HS/HC railway between Naples and Bari to prepare it to become part of the fifth corridor of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) that would run between Helsinki and Valetta. 

The new Hirpinia-Orsara section will be about 28 kilometres long and run mostly in a tunnel for about 27 kilometres. The speed at which the trains will be able to reach along the new line is 250 kilometres per hour apart from when they are at the open extremities where they will reach 200 kilometres per hour. The Bovino-Orsara section will open temporarily with the construction of a temporary link to the historic line next to the current Orsara station. Work on the Orsara-Hirpinia will begin, on the Bari side, next to the railway already built for the Bovino-Orsara section with the demolition of the temporary rail link to the historic line and the development of the Orsara station. 

After a brief raised section there is the Cervaro Viaduct about 314 metres after which, on the Naples side, begins the Hirpinia tunnel of 27 kilometres in length.