Five viaducts with innovative profiles

With an unmistakable appearance, unique throughout the entire Milan-Bologna High Capacity railway line, the Modena Viaduct System, which is built entirely in the province of the same name, stands out because of the unusual features, on both a technology/construction and aesthetical/functional level, of the beams of which it is composed. The common denominator of the system is the use of elements with an open profile called “omega” because of its similarity to the Greek letter of the same name. The shell through which the trains pass, have been designed to act as an acoustic barrier and to reduce significantly the impact on the landscape due to the broad elliptical shaped grooves formed on the outer surface. The Modena Viaduct System consists of 5 viaducts and extends for over 24 km. It is made up of the Brenner Viaduct (2,080m two way, which crosses the A22), the Modena Viaduct (7,116m two way), the Secchia Viaduct (2,423m one way which, in addition to crossing the Secchia River, enables a connection to the industrial area of North Modena and Modena Station), the Panaro Viaduct (1,496m two way, which crosses the Panaro River), as well as the Modena West interchange (two single viaducts with an overall length of 496m which enable a connection with Modena Station). It is one of the most significant works carried out in the province of Modena and is a part of the 182 km stretch linking Milan to Bologna. More generally, it is an integral part of Italy’s new high speed rail network which is part of the most far-reaching European plan for the reorganisation of rail transport and which provides for the creation, by 2010, of a high speed rail network between the countries of the Union. In our country, on its completion, the High Capacity railway line will extend for over 1400 km on the main routes from Turin to Venice, from Milan to Sicily, from Milan to Genoa and on the cross border links to the rest of Europe.

Some information on the Milan-Bologna stretch

The section in which the Modena Viaduct System is located is the Milan-Bologna stretch.
The line extends for 182 km from Melegnano, south of the bridge over the Lambro River, to Lavino (to the west of the river of the same name), crossing the Padana plain and the provinces of Milan, Lodi, Piacenza, Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena and Bologna.
To avoid further encroachment into agricultural land and to minimise the length of the new infrastructure, the route chosen for the high speed line runs as much as possible parallel to the A1 motorway for 130 km, or to the existing railway line for about 10 km.
The route was modified only where there were morphological constraints which made it impracticable:
for example, in crossing the Po, exits and service areas on the motorway and also in situations which were particularly complex in terms of existing residential, industrial and infrastructure developments, such as those encountered in passing through the area around Modena.
Integration into the existing railway system was achieved by means of eight railway connections, with a total of 28 km of dual track line, which ensure a functional interchange between the new line and the existing network, guarantee stops and routing of the high speed passenger trains over the old lines and play a strategic role in the expansion of freight transport.

TAV is the client and Cepav Uno the General Contractor

TAV, the project company, set up in 1991, obtained from FS S.p.A. the concession for the final drawings and the construction of the lines and the infrastructure of the Italian High Capacity System. In its role as the client for the entire system, TAV assigned to the General Contractors the final drawings and the construction of the new railway lines. The Milan-Bologna line was assigned to Cepav Uno (Consorzio Eni per l'Alta Velocità) the majority shareholder of which is ENI.
Cepav Uno is a consortium set up to build the High Capacity line from Milan to Bologna with the purpose of representing and coordinating the consortium companies. The consortium companies are: Snamprogetti Spa (50.10%), Saipem Spa (0.26%), Consorzio Cooperative Costruzioni (21.34%), Impresa Pizzarotti & C.(14.15%), Grandi Lavori Fincosit (14.15%)
The General Contractor, Cepav Uno, was also assigned the responsibility for drafting the construction plan covering all the works and plant of the High Capacity Milan-Bologna line, including the junctions, the relocating of the old Milan-Bologna line in Modena and all the socio-environmental mitigation works.

The division of the works

In order to carry out the works, 19 construction lots (13 for civil works, 3 for track laying and 3 for technology) were identified and assigned to the consortium member companies or to consortia that they set up.

The role of Impresa Pizzarotti in the Milan-Bologna line project

As well as being assigned the lot between kilometres 79+785 and 96+021, Impresa Pizzarotti along with Snamprogetti is part of the Modena scarl consortium which completed the lot between kilometres 142+685 and 182+148 in the provinces of Modena and Bologna and the doubling of the Modena-Mantova line between Modena and Soliera stations.
Within the scope of its own work, Modena scarl assigned to Impresa Pizzarotti construction of all the decks of the Modena Viaduct System having a total value of € 169,341,569.00.
In essence the work consisted of the manufacture and delivery of 775 prefabricated “omega” beams and the on-site manufacture of nine continuous beams with a span of 136m for individual crossings.
Impresa Pizzarotti set up from scratch a manufacturing plant in the vicinity of Lesignana di Modena on an area covering more than 100,000 m2, equipped with the most modern plant for producing the components of the Modena Viaduct System.
It was also equipped with all the equipment necessary for carrying out the bridging work (continuous beams with 136m spans) consisting especially of the self-launching gantries.

General layout

The Modena Viaduct System extends over a total length of 24,760.63m.
The length of the isostatic spans (produced in the facility) is 23,537.53m, and for the continuous girders (produced on-site) 1.223.10m.
There were 755 prefabricated beams in three lengths as follows:
1 - 713 of 31.50m;
2 - 23 of 29.00m;
3 - 14 of 24.00m;
There were 9 continuous girders (hyperstatic) of 136m.