Turin, 21 March 2025 - A bi-national civil protection exercise was held last night, inside the Frejus railway tunnel on the Turin-Modane line, in order to test the procedures of the bi-national Frejus railway tunnel external emergency plan in the event of an accident in the tunnel.
The bi-national exercise, organised by Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (FS Group) with the coordination of the Prefectures of Turin and Savoie, was attended by SNCF Réseau, the French Fire Brigade and the Turin Provincial Command, FS Security (FS Group), the Turin Police Headquarters, the Guardia di Finanza, the State Police, the Bardonecchia Border Police, the Carabinieri from the Susa and Bardonecchia stations, the Bardonecchia Municipal Police, the 112 Piedmont Operations Room, the French railway company SNCF SVI, the Regional Civil Protection Department, the Piedmont Regional Environmental Protection Agency.
In the simulation, a long-distance train travelling from Bardonecchia to Modane stopped inside the Frejus tunnel due to a locomotive fire. The driver and the conductor immediately activated the on-board fire-fighting equipment and managed to extinguish the flames. The passengers were moved to a safe place in the last carriage by the train crew. At the same time, the Italian and French rescue services were activated by emergency call to verify the definitive resolution of the fire, with positive results.
The convoy, however, was no longer able to continue its journey due to a breakdown caused by the fire. A rescue locomotive, which had previously been activated, was therefore needed to take it out of the tunnel. After the rescue operations and having made the train safe, the technicians inspected the line to assess the infrastructure’s conditions.
The exercise made it possible to verify the timings of the external and internal General Emergency Plan of the Frejus tunnel and its procedures to increase safety standards. It also verified the response capacity of the rescue system in emergency situations, through the verification of intervention times, the activation methods of the entities involved, the suitability of the means of communication and the timing of the disconnection and securing of the contact line. Particular attention was paid to verifying the effectiveness and speed of activation of emergency management procedures.
The activities took place between Bardonecchia and Modane, a section interrupted for the last evening trains travelling from Salbertrand to Bardonecchia with timetable changes.