HS/HC Brescia - Verona: GCF at work

ballast laying and track construction at full pace

Started about a month ago, the railway track construction of the new HS/HC (High Speed/High Capacity) Brescia-Verona line is progressing at full pace. The contract, worth around 78 million euros, involves over one hundred specialized workers from GCF - Generale Costruzioni Ferroviarie SpA - the lead company of the temporary consortium formed with CLF, Salcef, Gefer - and by Gefer itself.

General contractor of the 3-billion-euro mega project is the Cepav Due consortium (Consorzio Eni Per l’Alta Velocità): “With civil works almost completed – it announced to the media in recent weeks – the railway track laying phase has begun with ballast distribution and track construction on the section between Mazzano and Lonato. Commissioning is scheduled by the end of 2026.”

The railway route connects the Lombardy and Veneto regions, crossing three provinces (Brescia, Mantua, and Verona) and 11 municipalities: Mazzano (BS), Calcinato (BS), Lonato del Garda (BS), Desenzano del Garda (BS), Pozzolengo (BS), Ponti sul Mincio (MN), Peschiera del Garda (VR), Castelnuovo del Garda (VR), Sona (VR), Sommacampagna (VR), Verona.

With a development of about 48 km (45.4 km of HS/HC line and over 2 km of interconnections), it mostly runs alongside existing infrastructures: 30 km parallel to the A4 motorway and about 8 km aligned with the conventional Milan-Venice railway line. It starts from Mazzano and reaches Verona and the new Verona Freight Interconnection.

Embankments (23.4 km), viaducts (0.9 km), artificial tunnels (10.2 km), natural tunnels (6.6 km), and trenches (6.5 km) were constructed during the building phase of the route, along with significant works on road traffic (18.5 km of roads; 15 overpasses and 9 underpasses), ensuring a maximum slope of 12‰.

Track Works

Spectacular and visible from the nearby South Ring Road, the works carried out by GCF (Technical Director Valter Monacelli, Site Manager GCF Francesco Catapano, Site Manager GEFER Moreno Andreoli): between Mazzano and Lonato, the modern Sorema TR45, a next-generation track laying train, is in operation. Recently added to the GCF fleet, it is capable of building up to 450 meters of track per hour, easily meeting the goal of one kilometer of line per day. To date, 20 km of track have been built: 16 from the Mazzano side and 4 from the opposite side, Verona.

At the border between Mazzano and Ponte San Marco lies the main base construction site – also visible from the nearby ring road – set up for storing a monumental quantity of materials necessary for the track laying: 380,000 tons of ballast (the gravel bed used to ensure the stability of the railway structure and water drainage), 158,000 prestressed concrete sleepers produced by Wegh Group, 53 railway switches and a total of 11,500 tons of 108-meter-long rails produced in Piombino by JSW Steel: 185,000 meters in total required for the two 45 km tracks. A similar second site has been set up in Sommacampagna, on the other side of the line near Verona, to allow easier supply and progress of works from east to west.

Here are also housed the high-efficiency machines used: the powerful Sorema TR 45 construction train, the Vaiacar SparkRail road-rail welding machine, three Plasser tamping machines (09-3X Dynamic and 09/32/4S), and four profiling machines (2 Matisa R21L and 2 Sorema PS 2015) used for ballast processing, as well as six loaders, 21 flatcars for rails and sleepers, ballast wagons, and six locomotives (Deutz 216 2000, Krauss Maffei D220, Ipe G 1001) used by the site.

The new double-track HS/HC line has a standard gauge of 1,435 mm, with a track center distance of 4.5 m, powered by 3 kV DC and equipped with ERTMS/ETCS Level 2 railway signaling to ensure interoperability with European lines. Design speed up to 250 km/h.

Detailed Route

From the start of the route in Mazzano (Brescia province), the new railway separates with a new junction from the conventional Milan–Venice line, running alongside it for about 2 km.
It then follows the section parallel north of the A4 Milan–Venice motorway at the Chiese viaduct, which crosses the river of the same name in the municipality of Calcinato (BS).

The HS/HC line then continues towards Verona, encountering, after an embankment stretch, the Lonato tunnel system allowing it to pass under the A4 motorway and bringing the track back to ground level south of the A4 after the tunnel.
Continuing on embankment in the Desenzano and Pozzolengo areas, after crossing the regional border, in the municipality of Peschiera del Garda, the HS/HC line meets a tunnel system and a viaduct that crosses the Mincio River and then proceeds, in Castelnuovo del Garda, through artificial tunnels, trenches, and embankments.

The route, after encountering the tunnel under the A4 motorway in the municipality of Sona (VR), returns to ground level and runs north of the motorway.
In the final kilometers, the HS/HC route passes through Sommacampagna, parallel to the conventional Milan–Venice railway line, until it reaches the Verona West junction and connects to the conventional railway line.

GCF at work on the construction of the Brescia - Verona high-speed railway

GCF, with the Sorema TR45 track-laying train, is working in Sommacampagna, on the outskirts of Verona, on the construction of the new Brescia - Verona high-speed line. A powerful machine and a close-knit team ensure a daily production of over 1 km of track. Timelapse 2025.06.18.

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