Webuild consortium announced that it has won a EUR490 million (US$485 million) contract for the design and construction of the modernization and electrification of approximately 50 km section of Aleşd near the Hungarian border (Lot 4) of the railway that will connect Cluj-Napoca and Episcopia Bihor in Romania, including five stations at Tilegad, Osorhei, East Oradea, Oradea, and Episcopia Bihor.

Webuild is the leader of the consortium with a 50% share and the partners are Pizzarotti with a 30% share and Salcef with a 20% share. The project includes improving the comfort and safety of rail transport and limiting CO2 emissions by providing technical conditions for the movement of passenger trains at a speed of 160 km/h and 120 km/h for freight trains. About 1,000 direct and indirect jobs and an important spin-off for the local supply chain will be created through the project.

The European Union via Romania’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) will fund the project, which in turn is part of a wider program to modernize and electrify more than 166 km of the Cluj-Napoca-Oradea-Episcopia Bihor line.