ABSTRACT
The Naples-Bari High-Speed railway line, in Southern Italy, has an overall length of more than 300 km, of which 120 km are currently in design or construction stage, including about 68 km of underground works (cut and cover and bored tunnels). The railway line crosses the Apennines, one of the main Italian mountain chains, mainly composed by heterogeneous soils and rock-masses, characterized by a high degree of complexity resulting from their depositional and tectonic history. The paper describes the main geological features and geotechnical factors which have represented the key-elements to develop effective design solutions for the new underground works.
