Turin-Lyon is a railway line for freight and passengers located in the heart of the Mediterranean Corridor (of the TEN-T trans-European network).
It connects the Iberian Peninsula to Eastern Europe, passing through Italy with the Turin–Trieste route.
Central to the new line is the cross-border section that, at 65 kilometres-long, goes from Susa to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, in France, and crosses the Alps thanks to the Mont Cenis tunnel.
As follows the main goals of the project: control road transport and promote alternative modes of transport on the Italian-French border (given that transalpine goods traffic has doubled over the last 30 years); encourage commercial exchanges along the Italo-French axis with the European TEN-T network through the Mont Cenis tunnel; strengthen Turin's railway freight hub; develop the underground (metro) service in the city, with neighbouring territories and the airport for passenger traffic.
The most important project
Mont Cenis base tunnel (57.5 km)
*150 years after the inauguration of the Fréjus tunnel, this tunnel transforms the current mountain line into a level ground line, adapting it to current European standards.
Economic investment and timescale of the cross-border section of the Turin-Lyon Line
Economic investment: € 8.6 billion, cost-certified by a third party. 40% of the amount is co-financed by the European Union, while the remainder is divided between the two countries (35% for Italy, 25% for France).
Start of construction of the base tunnel: 2018
End of construction: 2029
Economic investment and timescale of the Italian access lines
Economic investment of the first phase of the strengthening of the access lines: €1.9 billion
Regarding Turin citizens traveling by rail, in 2021 the new SFM5 railway line is expected to start running.
End of construction: 2029
For the environment
The cost-benefit analysis conducted on the Turin-Lyon line, published in 2012, estimated:
- The annual reduction of greenhouse gas emissions of approximately 3 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents
- The transfer of one million heavy goods vehicles from road to rail.
89% of the cross-border route is through the tunnel, while most of the instalments on the surface are located in already built-upon areas, effectively eliminating the consumption of virgin soil.
