Ferrovial lands 320 million euro railway contract in Italy

The project involves doubling the tracks along an 18.8 km stretch of Genoa-Ventimiglia line, 86% of which runs through tunnels

One of the largest projects awarded by the Italian Transport Ministry

Madrid, 17 December 2003. Ferrovial has been awarded the contract to double the existing track on the San Lorenzo-Andora stretch of the Genoa-Ventimiglia railway line in Italy. The project, along an 18.8 km. length of line, represents an investment of 319.1 million euros and will take 47 months. The winning consortium, headed by Ferrovial Agromán (Ferrovial´s construction subsidiary), competed against six other groups formed by local construction companies in an auction by ITALFERR, Italy´s state-owned railway engineering company. It is one of the largest projects ever awarded by Italy´s Transport Ministry.

The project will be a feat of railway engineering: it includes building 11 tunnels totalling 16.3 kilometres (86% of the total track length), as well as three viaducts measuring 1,400 metres and two new stations (Imperio and Andora). The tunnels will be built using NATM (New Austrian Tunnelling Method), also known as the shotcrete method.

Presence outside Spain

This contract culminates Ferrovial´s over 15-year presence in Italy, where it has built the Asti Hospital, refurbished the San Giovanni Hospital, performed work on the Liguria docks in Venice, and developed public and private infrastructure. At the end of September, Ferrovial´s foreign construction order book totalled 1,300 million euros, including projects mainly in Poland, Portugal and Chile.