Il FS group continues its work of upgrading the railway network in Southern Italy. With the reduction of the last aperture in the gallery of Monte Aglio which connects the two sides of the excavation, the second lot – Cancello-Frasso Telesino – of the railway line is in fact completed High Speed Naples-Bari, which already from 2024 will allow to connect the two capitals, the Caserta and Benevento, in three hours, against the current four and counting, but also to avoid the Caserta station: the Afragola station will be the hub for the Tav Naples - Bari.
The new line, an integral part of the European TEN-T Scandinavia-Mediterranean railway corridor and also financed with funds from the PNRR, speeds up and improves the direct cross-connection between the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic seas, improving the connections of Puglia and the more inland provinces of Campania with the line HS/HC Milan-Rome-Naples.
Naples-Bari high-speed rail: interventions on the Cancello-Frasso Telesino section
The demolition of the last diaphragm joins the two excavation fronts of the Monte Aglio tunnel, allowing the completion of a 4 km long tunnel which joins Maddaloni e Valle di Maddaloni. The interventions on the entire Cancello-Frasso Telesino section consist in doubling and speeding up the line for a length of approximately 16 km, developing with a new line between Cancello and Valle di Maddaloni (6 km) and retracing the current route for the section Maddaloni Valley-Frasso Telesino (9 km). Furthermore, the construction of the new Valle Maddaloni and Frasso Telesino/Dugenta stops is planned. Thanks to the completion of the tunnel and other civil works along the section, with the first activation phase of the Cancello-Frasso Telesino line, by 2024 it will be possible to create the direct connection between Naples and Bari by exploiting the interconnections with the existing Rome-Naples line via Cassino.
The works were entrusted by RFI to the CFT Consortium (made up of the companies Impresa Pizzarotti & C. Spa – Itinera Spa – Ghella Spa) for a total amount of 340 million euros, all under the Works Management of Italferr. Overall, the progress of the works on the section is equal to 60%.
The HS/AC Naples – Bari line
La HS/AC Naples – Bari line, of which Rete Ferroviaria Italiana was the client and Italferr oversaw the preliminary and final design, has a total cost of 5,8 billion euros, also financed with funds from the PNRR. From 2027, when Rfi expects to complete the entire work - the next two lots will be delivered by July - travel from Puglia to Naples and Rome will be speeded up. The journey time between Naples and Bari will drop to two hours, up to Rome in 3 hours and connect Lecce and Taranto to the capital in 4 hours.
In any case, progressives are envisaged before this date travel time reductions, thanks to the phased opening of the new stretches of line, starting with the new direct connection in 2024.
“The Pnrr – Vera Fiorani, managing director of RFI – finances other transversal works always to connect territories to the central line, I am referring to the Pescara-Rome, the Milan-Venice, the Orte-Falconara». Rfi's CEO then announces that as early as September "tracks of the line" will be offered to carriers operating on high-speed trains, namely Trenitalia and Italo, so that they can schedule the service for travelers from 2024.
