Incredible new £21bn train line connects two cities 500 miles apart | World | News
A groundbreaking £21.1 billion high-speed rail project is set to revolutionise travel between two beautiful cities that are fashion capitals – and more than 500 miles apart – in different European countries.
The new line will connect France‘s capital city, Paris with Italy’s industrial and financial capital, Milan – making train travel a serious competitor to air travel. The new Turin-Lyon high-speed railway – which spans approximately 170 miles – will connect Italian and French networks.
Construction has already begun on the international section, which will traverse the Alps via the Mon d’Ambin Base Tunnel, linking Susa Valley in Piedmont with Maurienne in Savoie. This 37.5-mile tunnel is poised to become the world’s longest rail tunnel, surpassing Switzerland’s 35.3-mile Gotthard Base Tunnel.
The total cost of the line is estimated at a staggering 25 billion euros (£21.2 billion), with the international section alone costing eight billion euros (£6.7 billion). The project aims to shift freight traffic from trucks to rail, reducing CO2 emissions and local air pollution.
It also promises faster passenger transport to decrease air traffic. The new line will feature a maximum gradient of 12.5 per cent, compared to the existing line’s 30 per cent, and a maximum altitude of 580 metres, down from the previous 1,388 metres.
Wider curves will allow heavy freight trains to transit at 62 mph and passenger trains at 140 mph, significantly cutting travel time and energy usage, as well as costs. The upcoming railway network may revolutionise travel as it slashes passenger journey times from Milan to Paris from a hefty seven hours down to just four, rocketing the service into direct competition with airlines.
But before commuters start celebrating, it’s key to highlight that despite the often-utilised title, this rail line doesn’t meet the European Commission’s definition of ‘high-speed’. Falling short by 12 per cent under the 155 mph speed bar set by the commission, it’s classified as a segment of the TEN-T Trans-European conventional rail network within its “Mediterranean Corridor”.
In a move bolstering the project, the European Union has already covered 40 per cent of the tunnel expenditure and is signalling an open hand to increase that figure to 55 per cent. Moreover, the EU seems ready to support the French side’s extension costs if they exceed basic modifications of what exists.
A significant boost for this transnational effort is anticipated with La Chapelle, France’s new ashlar factory – known for producing precisely cut and tooled thin blocks of stone firing up operations in June 2024. This plant is dedicated to churning out construction segments for Lot 2 of the core tunnel.
Each segment, carved by an innovative and highly automated process, weighs in at ten tonnes, underscoring a commitment to sustainability.
And here’s a fact for efficiency enthusiasts: While the manufacturing of a single tunnel segment typically consumes ten minutes, this state-of-the-art facility will have them ready in just five and a half minutes. That’s a whopping 160 blocks each day, if claims by webuildgroup.com are anything to go by.
The project has faced a barrage of criticism. The French town of Chimilin, set to be divided by the railway, has been in opposition since 1992, with the former mayor citing economic uncertainty as damaging for the region.
Italy’s No TAV movement, originating in the Susa Valley in 1990, has questioned the project’s value, cost and safety. Further criticisms revolve around the cost, due to declining traffic in the area when the project was approved, and the argument that air travel remains quicker than the full route, factoring in time to and from the airport and security checks.
Construction work began in 2002, starting with access points and geological reconnaissance tunnelling. In 2016, a 5.6-mile gallery was tunnelled from Saint-Martin-de-la-Porte towards Italy, completed in Sept 2019, as reported by Le Dauphine.
As of late 2022, the base tunnel is expected to be finished by 2032.
