Press release - At the Desenzano del Garda (BS) construction site, TBM Martina (diameter 10 m) completed the first 4751 m of the Lonato tunnel part of the new High Speed / High Capacity railway Brescia East – Verona.  

The construction of the Lonato rock tunnel, started in 2020, built by Consortium Cepav Due, composed of Saipem (59%), Impresa Pizzarotti (27%) and ICM Group (14%), Seli Overseas.  Cepav Due were commissioned by Rete Ferroviaria Italiana with High Surveillance and Works Management by Italferr to carry out the works.

In the coming months, the TBM will be disassembled and transported to the western adit of the tunnel, where it will be reassembled and then it will begin excavation of the second tube.  

Part of the 470,000 m3 of spoil extracted during the excavation will be reused in the construction of the railway line, while the other part will be transported to the local quarries for specific environmental improvement works.  

The construction advancement of the Brescia East - Verona HS / HC railway line is approximately 40%. The complexities encountered required the use of cutting-edge solutions and technologies.

The construction of the second tube, thanks to the experience gained on the first, should be even faster.  

The HS/HC Brescia East - Verona line, mostly alongside the A4 Milan - Venice motorway and the conventional railway line, crosses the Lombardy and Veneto regions, 11 municipalities in the provinces of Brescia, Verona and Mantua (the latter for road works only) and involves the construction of a 48 km new railway, including the 2.2 km Verona freight trains interconnection with the Verona - Brenner railway axis.  

The investment into the Brescia East - Verona lot, was approved by the Interministerial Committee for Economic Planning, and is EUR 2.6 billion. The share assigned to Cepav Due is EUR 2.16 billion.  

The completion of the Milan-Verona line, of which the Milan-Treviglio section has been in operation since 2007 and the Treviglio-Brescia section since 2016, will help with the various transport flows, making traffic more fluid and increasing traffic capacity in the Brescia and Verona railway nodes, with benefits on the regularity and punctuality of both long-distance and regional services as well as freight transport.  

For further information please click here and it/264 for the tunnelbuilder archive. Visit https://www.rfi.it and https://www.cepavdue.it/. 37/22