A consortium led by Webuild and including Ghella, Pizzarotti and Seli has landed a €1.6bn contract to build a 22.2km section of the high-speed railway under construction between Salerno, just south of Naples, and Reggio Calabria, the city facing Sicily on the Strait of Messina.

Webuild’s section is located in the southern half of the railway, linking the coastal commune of Paolo to the inland city of Cosenza.

On the way, it will pass through the municipalities of Paola, San Lucido, Rende, Montalto Uffugo, San Vincenzo la Costa, and San Fili

Most of the section – 15km – will be underground through the new Santomarco Tunnel.

Four tunnel boring machines will be used to excavate the tunnel, which will replace an existing single-track tunnel 100m adjacent. The old tunnel will be decommissioned when the new one is finished.

The consortium will also build nine railway bridges and two viaducts including a 350m-long crossing over the A2 motorway.

Also planned is a new station in Montalto Uffugo to serve the university campus in Rende.

Webuild estimates that 1,500 people will work on the project.

Elsewhere on the Salerno-Reggio Calabria line, Webuild is building the 35km-long section of Lot 1A Battipaglia-Romagnano, the first section to enter construction, and the junction with the Potenza-Metaponto section.

The full line will form part of the Scandinavian-Mediterranean corridor in the Trans-European Transport Network.