A consortium led by Italian contractor Webuild has won a €934m (£827m) contract to build a rail bypass in Trento, Italy.

The contract, let by Rete Ferroviaria Italiana, the railway infrastructure arm of state rail operator Gruppo FS Italiane, is for construction of approximately 13 kilometres of rail line, nearly all of it underground, as part of a quadrupling of the Fortezza–Verona section of the high-speed railway south of the Brenner Base Tunnel under the Austrian Alps.

Webuild’s consortium partners include Ghella, with 35%, and Collini with 10%. Webuild has a 51% stake and its subsidiary SELI has 4%. Webuild will lead the design and construction of the bypass.

The new rail bypass will form part of the strategic Munich–Verona corridor and is also part of a broader programme to upgrade transport services in Trento. Webuild says that the new rail bypass is expected to reduce the emission of more than 65,000 tonnes of CO₂ every year.

The contract includes the construction of a new tunnel – the Trento Tunnel of approximately 10.6 kilometres in length – and two short sections above ground alongside the existing line.

Four tunnel-boring machines will be deployed to excavate the tunnel, with two working at either end of the projected tunnel. The rate of excavation is expected to reach between 15 metres and 20 metres per day, helping accelerate the work.

The bypass – known in Italian as the “Circonvallazione di Trento” – will be part of the southern access to the Brenner Base Tunnel. Webuild is already working on three of the five sections of this tunnel: Mules 2-3 and Isarco River Underpass in Italy, and Gola del Sil–Pfons in Austria.

The contractor has completed Lot Tulfes–Pfons in Austria, while working on the Fortezza–Ponte Gardena access line in Italy that also is part of the Munich–Verona corridor.