Salini Impregilo, a specialist in the construction and civil engineering business, has won a contract worth €530 million ($594 million) for a key part of the new “Orient Express” high-speed railway in Turkey between Istanbul and the border with Bulgaria.

The contract to build a 153-km section of the rail network is the latest acknowledgement of the Italian group’s global leadership in the construction of major high-speed railways that contribute to the sustainable development of urban and extra-urban mobility, said a statement from Salini Impregilo.

The line will belong to the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) that connects member countries of the European Union.

It will be a part of the Orient/East-Med Corridor, which connects Central Europe with ports of the North, Baltic, Black and Mediterranean seas, it stated.

The project, overseen by the Directorate General of Turkish State Railways, will reduce travel times, increase safety and contribute to the development of the region, it added.

Salini Impregilo said the latest contract will link the Halkali station to that of Kapikule with a double track that will supplant the existing single track. It will be for trains that can travel at speeds of up to 200 km per hour.

The contract includes electrification, signalling and other auxiliary civil works related to that section of the line. The choice of the best technological solution among 10 alternative projects was made based on a cost-benefit index. The contract also guarantees the immediate availability of machines to move 80 million cubic metres of earth, it added.

After working a year on the project, Salini Impregilo will lead with a 50.01% stake in a joint-venture with Kolin İnşaat Turizm Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş., a leading Turkish builder with which the Group completed the reconstruction of the Köseköy-Gebze section of a high-speed railway in 2011 for the Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications.

Salini Impregilo is working with it on other large infrastructure projects in the Gulf.

Set to last four years, it is receiving financing in euros from the European Union via the European Investment Bank, guaranteeing a reduction in the risk profile while setting the entire production chain at the highest contractual standards and guarantees requested by international organizations, it added.-TradeArabia News Service