Amid conflicting reports on the reopening timelines of the Frejus railway, blocked by a landslide in August 2023, the future of the project concerning the French access route to the Mont Cenis base tunnel remains murky. This tunnel is a major work in advanced construction and an integral part of the new high-capacity Turin-Lyon railway.
Initially, visionary projects were considered, including the construction of two separate railway lines, one exclusively for high-speed passengers between Lyon and Chambéry, and another mixed for passengers and freight towards the border. Subsequently, French railways and, more importantly, the central authorities have backpedaled. They have never officially denied the need to invest in the connection between Lyon and the entrance of the base tunnel at Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne but have so far procrastinated with varying reasons, from the difficulty of finding the necessary resources to the opportunity to study alternative projects. However, now, cornered by deadlines set by Europe, French authorities seem to be scrambling for a solution. But the news comes from Lyon. Let's delve into the details.
Preliminary studies to be initiated, now almost out of time, involve an expenditure of 220 million euros, of which 90 million will be provided by the European Union. It's a sum that certainly can't jeopardize the coffers of the French Government, yet Paris, for some unknown reason, has agreed to commit only a portion of the necessary funds to the project, which in the best-case scenario will not even reach one hundred million, not a cent more, turning the project planning back to square one.
This decision has sparked a lively political debate, both from parliamentarians of the geographic areas most directly affected by the Lyon-Torino route and by operators such as those associated with the Transalpine, a French association of institutional and business supporters of the new railway line, committed not only to promoting this investment but also to ensuring there are no setbacks or missteps.
These positions have achieved a result, to the extent that by the end of January 2024, the French region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, led by Lyon, declared itself willing to guarantee the coverage of the funds the central government refuses to allocate, estimated at about twenty million euros. This amount is in addition to the resources the region had already decided to commit to the project, totaling over thirty million.
Initially reluctant to allocate further resources, Auvergne has changed its stance, keen not to see the railway connection project between the Lyon region and Italy vanish, especially with the goal of creating a viable alternative to freight transport, which currently travels almost exclusively by road. The ball is now back in the court of the Paris Government, which can no longer hide behind the excuse of resource shortage and must come clean.
Piermario Curti Sacchi
