Andria-Barletta, doubling in sight

At work on the executive project for the new track.

Double works in sight for the Andria - Barletta, the terminal section of the Bari - Barletta railway line.
After Ferrotramviaria S.p.A. was awarded the tender at the end of June, the Temporary Grouping of Companies of which GCF - Generale Costruzioni Ferroviarie is a member together with Doronzo Infrastrutture S.r.l. and Matarrese S.p.A., is finalizing the executive design and preparing for the start of construction sites.ri.

The project, concerning the doubling of 9 km of line in the territories of Andria and Barletta, for a total value of 52 M€, is part of a broader Program of intervention for the strengthening of regional railway lines, financed by Ministerial Decree of September 23, 2021, no.363, and related to the resources of the Complementary Fund to the P.N.R.R.
A program that aims at the green transition of local public transport through the enhancement of the regional rail infrastructure under concession, with actions aimed at the strengthening of rail armament, electrification of the lines, completion of the installation of the SCMT (Train Running Control System) and Signalling, improvement of rail safety (PL suppression and replacement works), and intermodal exchange between rail and road at the nodes (stations). "The ultimate goal envisaged by the Regional Transport Plan," Massimo Nitti, general manager of Ferrotramviaria, explained to the media, "is for the railway managed by Ferrotramviaria to interconnect in Barletta with the national network. In fact, this will allow trains coming from Foggia to be able to transit our line and go directly to the airport".

The characteristics of the doubling

The track-doubling intervention starts after the new Andria North station (soon to be built) from km 59+225 without involving station plan 009 and ends at km 67+740 near the Barletta station (before the S.S. 16 bis viaduct). .

The second track is arranged to the left of the existing track and runs for a length of about 9 km, 4 of which are in the territory of the Municipality of Andria.

The project envisages maintaining the plano-altimetric characteristics of the existing odd-numbered track - with the intention of reducing as much as possible the interference with the territory - except in some sections where the layout has been optimized in curves with inevitable deviation from the current track. The new track will have a wheelbase of 3.8 mt for the entire section except for the straight track at the beginning and end of the intervention, which will be 4.00 mt.

The trackage, on ballast with a minimum thickness of 35 cm., will consist of type 60E1 rails with Wossloh W14 technology elastic coupling, placed on RFI 240 V.c.p. sleepers.

Electrification of the line, at 3000 V.cc., will make use of a new piling consisting of LSU poles and brackets to support the contact line at 320 mm2 with adjusted wire and cable.
To serve the signalling, cable arrangements will already be made along the entire double section as well as the isolation plane.

For the civil works, the demolition of a canton house (No. 21, at km 60 + 444) and 2 of the 212 hydraulic manholes present on the section concerned is planned, as well as the demolition and reconstruction of the other 19; the construction of 6 coplanar roads necessary to ensure accessibility to the lands, also adapting partly existing roads; the elimination of 4 level crossings (at km 67+325.23, km 66+009.77, km 61+796.38, km 60+627.84). Among the most important interventions, finally, is the demolition at km 62 + 029 of the current crossing on the A14 - a two-light overpass characterized by a net width of each span of 12.5 m - which will be replaced with a single-span bridge, with consequent demolition of the central pier and installation of single-wire NJ barrier in continuity with the rest of the section: a bridge already prepared for the future widening of the A14 roadway from two to three lanes in each direction.

The duration of the works, starting from the approval of the executive project, is expected to be about 33 months.