February 2025

Driving Innovation
in the Palermo-Catania-Messina corridor

The Palermo-Catania-Messina project is a critical infra­structure initiative aimed at improving connectivity and transportation efficiency across Sicily. To support the pro­duction of key structural elements Webuild SpA – Pizzarotti, awarded to ICEA, one of the most important regional play­ers in the Concrete Industry, the entire supply for approx. 350,000 precast segments. To fulfil its commitment, ICEA has entrusted Euromecc with the supply of a high-per­formance precast batching plant. This article provides an overview of the project, the customer, and the tailor-made solution designed to meet the demanding requirements of large-scale precast segment production.

ICEA calcestruzzi: A trusted name in construction
ICEA has built a strong reputation as a leading concrete sup­plier with expertise in large-scale infrastructure projects. With a commitment to quality, sustainability, and innovation, ICEA has been involved in numerous high-profile developments across Italy such as the TEEM project, referred to the Milan eastern ring road, BBM Brescia-Bergamo-Milano Highway, TI. BRE A15 Tirreno-Brennero Highway, CEPAV Due Bresca-Ve­rona High-speed railway. Their involvement in the Palermo­Catania-Messina project underscores their role in shaping the country’s modern infrastructure landscape. For this pro­ject, already served by a main facility supplied by Euromecc to Webuild SpA, ICEA calcestruzzi purchased an additional batching plant capable of increasing the production of pre­cast segments, meeting the most stringent performance standards.

The Project in numbers
The Palermo-Catania-Messina project is a significant infra­structure initiative aimed at modernizing approximately 223 km of railway lines connecting Palermo, Catania, and Messina in Sicily. The project involves upgrading existing tracks, dou­bling single-track sections, and enhancing overall capacity and speed to improve transportation efficiency across the region.
The total investment for the Palermo-Catania-Messina railway modernization is estimated at approximately €8 billion and is being executed in multiple phases, with various sections having different completion timelines. Overall, the entire modernization effort is expected to be completed by 2029. The project includes the construction of multiple tunnels and viaducts to enhance the railway’s efficiency and capacity. For instance, the Lercara-Caltanissetta Xirbi section involves building eight tunnels totalling 22 km and 21 viaducts span­ning 11 km.
Upon completion, the modernization is expected to reduce travel time between Palermo and Catania by approximately one hour, making the journey around one hour and 45 min­utes.

Addressing the challenges
The new concrete batching plant was dictated by the neces­sity of producing high-compression resistance concrete such as C48/60, C56/70 and C60/75 having consistence S2 : S3, with the capability of producing one segment every 7 minutes, after which each element enters into the accelerated curing chamber to meet the required resistance performance of at least 18 MPa (necessary to release the formwork) after a 7 hours 40 minutes cycle per item. This new installation caters into a production site where Euromecc, in 2022 installed a massive batching plant equipped with two planetary mixers of 2 m³ each aimed to work in tandem and produce concrete for 3,2 m³ segments.
For all these reasons, the proposals on the table focused since day 1 on a compact setup, trying to compromise on the existing site without limiting the available space for seg­ments storage. On the other hand, the plant was urgent, thus requiring compromising on design and manufacturing activi­ties trying to minimise the presence of bespoke components. The result is mix-and-match where a bespoke mixing unit was combined with a standard semi-mobile batching unit, usually produced for stock hence quickly available for delivery.
In this sense, we find a 5 compartments batching unit capable of storing up to 115/150 m³ entirely hot-dip galvanised which did not require special foundations and has a limited loading height to minimise the requirement of civil works.
The bespoke mixing unit is expected to support the original production and contribute with a more versatile arrangement in order to produce beside the standards 3,2 m³ segments also some smaller items of 2,7 m³. To meet this challenge there is a high-efficiency 3,35 m³/cycle planetary mixer, which is capable of dealing with both the quantities of concrete re­quired; furthermore, to guarantee the quality of mixing there are four mixing stars whose two are equipped with three mixing arms while the others have two counter-rotating mix­ing arms to enhance the turbulence effect. For the discharge there is a main gate with a radius of 1,200 mm, aimed to de­liver concrete to the flying bucket, and a secondary gate with a radius of 750 mm suitable to collect the wash-out water coming from the six high-pressure rotating heads and con­vey it, together with any possible rejected batch, through the water treatment process; here the material is first reclaimed through an Eurowash system, and then delivered to a filter-press where the water is cleaned from the fines and cementi­tious particles before being reused into the process.
Another aspect that was taken into account during the design was the high-degree of precision required. Considering the geometric size of the mixer, which comes with a 3,950 mm wide tank, and the cinematic analysis focused on the vibra­tion, there were some concerns on the effect such vibration could have had on the cement and water scales, which are usually anchored to the mixer with dedicated frames.
For this reason, it was decided to install floating weighers, which are installed on the upper deck structure and connect to the mixer by mean of flexible hoses and rubber socks. Finally, the whole installation is completed with a set of ad­mixture dosing equipment, where specific products devel­oped for the precast industry are used, and a set of fibre dosing systems that are going to be used with both metallic and plastic fibres with the aim of reducing the segment self-weight with a positive attempt to reduce CO2 emissions on the downstream logistic process.

Conclusion
The collaboration between Euromecc and ICEA marks an­other important milestone in the development of the Paler­mo-Catania-Messina project. With the installation of a state-of-the-art precast batching plant, ICEA is well-equipped to meet the project’s demanding production requirements, en­suring high-quality precast segments for critical infrastructure components. This partnership not only highlights Euromecc’s expertise in providing advanced concrete solutions but also contributes to the broader goal of enhancing Sicily’s trans­portation network. As the project progresses, the integration of innovative construction technologies is expected to deliver significant benefits in terms of efficiency, sustainability, and long-term infrastructure resilience. Asked about the expec­tations for this new setup, Eng. Antonino Di Fede, from ICEA, declares: “Our company has long partnered with Euromecc being a reliable partner on all of our projects through the country. This manufacturing site represents a new benchmark in the production of concrete for precast products for ICEA.”

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