Track laying completed in the section between Bicocca and Catenanuova

Under the Works Supervision by Italferr, the engineering firm of Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane Group, an important step forward is being made in a project that will redesign Sicilian mobility, making rail transport on the island more competitive and sustainable, with the laying of 38 km of double railway track on the Catenanuova-Bicocca line as part of the new Palermo-Catania connection.

Divided into six functional lots for a total length of 179 km, the project includes double track on the Bicocca-Catenanuova and Fiumetorto-Lercara Diramazione sections and a new fast track between Lercara Diramazione and Catenanuova, in a variant of the route.

The Bicocca-Catenanuova project, on the Catania-Palermo line, entrusted by RFI to the ATI headed by Webuild, consists of doubling the line for 38 km, with the activation of 17 railway viaducts, 8 overpasses, 2 artificial tunnels and 2 tunnel ducts, 5 road underpasses, with approximately 350 workers employed on the construction site, for an investment of approximately 508 million euros. All existing level crossings have also been eliminated.

The interventions to speed up the entire Palermo-Catania-Messina route, a project by RFI with the Works Management of Italferr, envisage a total economic investment of approximately 12 billion euros. The works will guarantee compliance with interoperability requirements and will allow a significant increase in the competitiveness of rail passenger transport, responding to mobility needs in terms of reduced travel times, with benefits for regularity and frequency.

Work is currently underway on all sections of the new Palermo-Catania route, for 179 km, and the Catania-Messina route, for a total length of approximately 42 km.

Photo credit, Pietro Piraino, Italferr