EXCAVATION of the Novi Ligure railway interconnection tunnels in Genoa, northern Italy, has been completed, marking a significant milestone in the Terzo Valico dei Giovi programme to connect Genoa with Milan and the Po Valley by high-speed rail.
The breakthrough of the final diaphragm completes one of four connections between the new 53km Genoa - Milan high-speed, high-capacity line and the existing Genoa - Turin main line. The project is being delivered by a consortium led by Webuild as civil works contractor to infrastructure manager Italian Rail Network (RFI), with engineering support from FS Engineering. The project is overseen by government commissioner Calogero Mauceri and forms part of Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR).
The Novi Ligure interconnection extends from the Serravalle Tunnel via two new single-track tunnels with a combined length of 1.7km. One is 723m long and the other is 987m. The tunnels branch underground to connect with the Genoa - Turin main line near Novi Ligure, allowing passenger and freight services to access the Turin corridor without interfering with other rail traffic.
The project presented notable engineering challenges, with tunnels running at a shallow depth just metres from the operational Genoa - Turin main line.
The Genoa - Milan high-speed, high-capacity line runs predominantly underground. Its core section, the 27km twin-bore Valico Tunnel, will be Italy’s longest railway tunnel and is designed for operation at up to 250km/h. Including secondary connections, the complete project comprises around 90km of tunnelling, delivered through a combination of tunnel boring machines (TBM) and conventional excavation methods.
In October, RFI completed a project to provide two additional tracks between Genoa Voltri and Genoa Sampierdarena stations as part of the wider project. The first 8.5km section of the Genoa - Milan project entered service in January 2024.
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