The excavation on the high-speed-high-capacity railway line between Bari and Naples is being carried out through an innovative and sustainable construction technique by Webuild and commissioned by RFI-Gruppo FS. The works in a hyperbaric atmosphere concern the stretch between the Campania capital and Cancello and in particular in the construction of the Casalnuovo artificial tunnel which extends partially under the water table.
Adequately trained workers enter the hyperbaric regime through gradual adaptation operations in a special airlock which has a maximum capacity of 20 workers per shift, in which the gradual compression phase takes place which lasts on average 20 minutes. The pressure, depending on the excavation phases, will fluctuate between 0.3 and approximately 1.2 atmospheres. All activities are carried out by adopting procedures and specific technical and health protocols that allow maximum safety and health of workers to be guaranteed during the work phases. The construction site of the Casalnuovo tunnel, whose completion is expected by mid-2025, involved the preparation of complex and innovative systems, developed with the involvement of specialized technicians and highly qualified international suppliers.
As regards the construction sites, the construction of the other lots of the line continues: in fact, two new TBMs (Tunnel Boring Machine) are currently being assembled which will be used for the start of the excavation, expected in the summer, of the Rocchetta Tunnel (Apice lot -Hirpinia), approximately 6.4 km long, and the Orsara Tunnel (odd tube of the Orsara – Bovino lot) approximately 10 km long. Meanwhile, the excavation of the Grottaminarda Tunnel, approximately 2 km long, continues on the Apice-Hirpinia lot, which to date has been built for approximately 60% of the route and whose completion is expected by the summer.
In total, the future high-speed line between Naples and Bari will have a length of 145 km, with 9 tunnels (including the Hirpinia tunnel, approximately 27 km long, which will compete with the Valico tunnel in Genoa for the record of the longest tunnel longest in Italy), 25 viaducts and 16 new stations and stops. At the end of the works on the entire Naples-Bari, expected in 2028, it will be possible to connect Naples and Bari in 2 hours, compared to approximately 4 currently, and Rome and Bari in 3 hours. The HS/HC Naples-Bari line, explains RFI and Webuild, “will also bring significant benefits in terms of environmental sustainability, allowing us to avoid over 3 million tonnes of CO2 emissions in the period 2023-2047”.
