NEW HIGH SPEED/HIGH-CAPACITY NAPLES – BARI LINE: EXCAVATION OF TELESE AND REVENTA TUNNELS COMPLETED

Naples, April 9, 2025 – With the breakthrough of the final diaphragm, excavation has been completed on the Telese tunnel (Frasso Telesino – Telese section) and the Reventa tunnel (Telese - Vitulano section) of the new High Speed/High-Capacity Naples – Bari railway line.

The ceremony was attended by the Undersecretary for Infrastructure and Transport, Tullio Ferrante, the CEO and General Director of Rete Ferroviaria Italiana, Aldo Isi, and the Government’s Special Commissioner for the project, Roberto Pagone.

TELESE TUNNEL - The breakthrough of the final diaphragm connects the two excavation fronts of the Telese tunnel, which is approximately 3 kilometers long. Work on the Frasso Telesino – Telese section includes doubling and speeding up an 11-kilometer stretch of the line, along with the construction of two new stops at Amorosi and Telese. The works were commissioned by RFI, the project’s client, and overseen by Italferr (a company of the FS Group), and assigned to the ATI consortium formed by Ghella, Pizzarotti, Itinera, Salcef, and EDS Infrastrutture, with an investment of approximately €245 million.

REVENTA TUNNEL - At the same time, excavation has been completed on the Reventa tunnel, approximately 150 meters long—the first of seven tunnels in the Telese – San Lorenzo Maggiore – Vitulano section to be finished. The project involves doubling and upgrading a 19-kilometer stretch of the historic line and the construction of three new stops at Solopaca, San Lorenzo, and Ponte Casalduni. These works were commissioned by RFI to the Telese Consortium, composed of Ghella, Itinera, Salcef, and Coget Impianti, with a total investment of around €500 million.

The new Naples – Bari High Speed/High-Capacity line, worth around €6 billion and also funded through the NRRP (National Recovery and Resilience Plan), is one of FS Group’s strategic projects to improve mobility in Southern Italy. The first section, Bovino – Cervaro, has been operational since 2017, with work currently ongoing on all other sections. Completion of the project will speed up transversal connections between the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic coasts, improving links between Puglia and inland areas of Campania with the Naples - Rome - Milan High Speed backbone. The project is part of the progetto Cantieri Parlanti initiative—a collaboration between FS Group and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport—designed to provide clear, transparent communication about ongoing railway works.

BENEFITS - The new High Speed/High-Capacity Naples – Bari line is part of the European TEN-T Scandinavian – Mediterranean Corridor. With the Cancello – Frasso Telesino section, direct travel from Bari to Naples will take just 2 hours and 40 minutes. Once the entire line is completed, travel times will be reduced to 2 hours from Bari to Naples, 3 hours to Rome, and 4 hours from Lecce and Taranto to the capital. The project is already a driver of economic development and job creation, involving around 7,000 workers—including engineers, technicians, and laborers—and a supply chain of about 2,000 companies including suppliers and subcontractors.

Press Release