Excavation of the Lonato tunnel completed

On 21 February, the 'Martina' TBM completed the excavation of the second tube of the Lonato bored tunnel, thereby ensuring a fundamental structure for the Brescia-Verona HS/HC line.

Present at the event was the Italferr team, the engineering company of the FS Group's Infrastructure Hub, engaged in Health & Safety Supervision and Works Supervision activities concerning the excavation of the over four kilometres long maxi tunnel.

The event, which took place in the morning at the Serraglio-Desenzano construction site of the eastern entrance on the Verona side of the tunnel, saw the drilling of the diaphragm wall and the demolition of the 8 posts of the entrance bulkhead.

The construction work, started in 2020, was awarded by the Cepav Due Consortium to Seli Overseas, the winner of the European call for tenders.

The work is located just south of the town of Lonato adjacent to an industrial area. The railway line underpasses the A4 Milan-Venice motorway after approximately 200 m from its start, under which the two tunnel tubes have been built with a cover, with respect to the motorway, approximately 10 m below. Two cut&cover tunnels (Milan side and Verona side) will complete the work, forming a single tunnel approximately 7,950 m long.

Following the completion of the excavation, the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Matteo Salvini visited the Desenzano del Garda construction site to take stock of the progress of work on the High Speed/High Capacity Brescia East-Verona line, a project that has reached 63% completion.

The project is one of the works financed by the NRRP and is one of the elements of the Mediterranean Core Network Corridor that will connect ports in the south of the Iberian Peninsula with Eastern Europe, via southern France, northern Italy, Slovenia and Croatia. The economic investment amounts to around EUR 2.8 billion, with completion scheduled for June 2026.