Webuild and its consortium partners will build Lot 4 (section Aleşd near the Hungarian border) of the railway that will connect Cluj-Napoca and Episcopia Bihor in Romania. The total value of the contract is approximately €490 million. The award of the contract will become effective once all the foreseen tender procedures have been completed. Webuild is leader of the consortium with a 50% stake whilst partners are Pizzarotti with 30% and Salcef at 20%. The construction of the works is estimated to create about 1,000 direct and indirect jobs and an important spin-off for the local supply chain. With this new contract, Webuild reaches €10.7 billion in new orders acquired this year, including projects where it is preferred bidder, and variations on existing orders.  

Lot 4 entails the design and construction of the modernization and electrification of approximately 50 kilometres of existing railway, including five stations at Tilegad, Osorhei, East Oradea, Oradea, and Episcopia Bihor in the country’s northwest near the border with Hungary.

Commissioned by CFR, Romania’s national railway company, the project will be financed by European Union funds via Romania’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP). Lot 4 belongs to a wider programme to modernize and electrify more than 166 kilometres of the Cluj-Napoca-Oradea-Episcopia Bihor line.

The planned interventions will guarantee the technical conditions for passenger trains to travel at 160 kilometres per hour and at 120 kilometres per hour for freight trains. It will increase the comfort and safety of the rail service and make it more competitive than road travel. Not only will it reduce travel times between the connected cities, but it will also limit CO2 emissions.

The interventions will furthermore improve connections between Romania’s rail network and those of the rest of Europe thanks to Level 2 of the European Rail Traffic Management System, while reducing the existing line’s operational and maintenance costs.

In Romania, Webuild is involved in the construction of more than 120 kilometres of metro and rail lines, and more than 90 kilometres of roads and highways. One of the iconic projects close to completion is the Braila Bridge, the second longest suspension bridge in continental Europe at 1,975 metres, whose main deck reaches 1,120 kilometres.