ABSTRACT
The 19th century has been characterized by a expansion of both passengers and freight railway lines in Europe. In Italy, several railway lines had been built with significant underground development. At the beginning of the 1900s, the Italian Railways published an handbook of civil works: a first example of standardization of Italian tunnels. Today, there is a new development of railway lines in Italy and approximately 300 km of new tunnels are in planning or already under construction. New requirements related to railway line speed and capacity, safety and security during construction and operation phase, maintenance and management of the infrastructure as well as the changing over the time of materials and excavation methods brought to define and update design approaches and standards. Focusing on the underground works of the HS/HC Napoli-Bari railway line, this contribution examines the evolution of the design approaches and standards of railway tunnels in Italy.
