Naples-Bari high-speed railway line. Naples-Cancello Lot

The work strengthens the Naples railway junction benefiting the transport systems and travel of the South of Italy and Europe

The Naples-Cancello line is part of the Naples-Bari high-speed-high-capacity sustainable mobility project, part of the European programme for sustainable transport: the Transport European Network (TEN-T) corridor. In particular, the Naples – Bari Itinerary is included in the Scandinavia-Mediterranean Corridor, which will connect Finland to Malta, passing through Denmark, Germany, Austria and Italy

The Project comprises the first segment of the Naples-Bari itinerary. By joining the new Naples Afragola station. it integrates the high-speed system with the historic lines. It is part of the transport redevelopment plan of the transversal axis passing from Naples through Benevento and Foggia, arriving in Bari. The work greatly contributes to developing the entire South of Italy, allowing it to better integrate itself in socio-economic terms both in Italy and Europe.

The tracks will serve the new Naples-Afragola station, which will become the interchange point for passengers between regional and high-speed services, thus increasing overall accessibility to rail transport in the Naples junction.

The intervention consists in building a variant of the current Naples-Cancello line, for an overall extension of 15.5 km, at a speed of 130 km/h, with 2 new stops, 1 new station, and a new Multi-station Computerized Central Apparatus, with a Central post in Naples. It allows the elimination of the existing 12 level crossings, located along the historical section, with an overall improvement of the area’s viability.

The upcoming works concern assembling and raising arch bridges for crossing the median axis, done with a technology similar to that used to build the Genoa bridge.

Technological Innovation

With regard to the excavation of the artificial tunnel of Casalnuovo, a cutting-edge solution (for Italy) has been adopted, to completely monitor the stratum, always in hydrostatic conditions, with the consequent elimination of the effects caused by the transport of fine materials for bailing and those induced by managing dredging and volume increase when a jet-grouting solution is used; the excavation is therefore carried out in a hyperbaric environment. This solution improves workers’ conditions, allowing them to always work in a dry environment without the aid of temporary structures, which could be invasive for the surroundings.