The Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region is ready “to put in 13 million euros, roughly a third of what is expected from local authorities” to finance studies on the route of the Lyon-Turin line. This is what Laurent Wauquiez declared on Thursday in the Dauphiné Libéré. He called on the environmentalist cities of Lyon and Grenoble, opposed to the project, to contribute in turn.
These operational studies should help determine a budget and the final route for the tracks between Lyon and Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne. Their total amount is between “150 to 170 million euros”, according to the president of the region.
The amount of work, on the French side only, is between 10 and 15 billion euros, which should be 50% financed by the European Union. Three billion would be covered by the State and the rest by local authorities.
The Lyon-Turin line, a controversial project
The project operator, Telt, is defending a new rail line which “will make it possible to relieve the Alpine roads of a million heavy goods vehicles and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by around a million tonnes of carbon each year. CO2 equivalent. » Traffic jams and pollution linked to road traffic are a daily problem in the valley, while the Mont Blanc tunnel is closed for two months.
Opponents of Lyon-Turin denounce a “pharaonic” and “harmful” project for the environment, biodiversity and water resources. In mid-June, thousands of Earth Uprising demonstrators gathered in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, on the French side, to protest, joining the long struggle of the No-Tav movement on the Italian side. Many elected environmentalists, such as the mayors of Lyon and Grenoble, have proposed instead modernizing the historic line which winds through the Alps, according to them under-exploited and sufficient to absorb current freight traffic.
In Dauphiné, Laurent Wauquiez argues that residents “are 78% in favor of Lyon-Turin” and defends the “environmental progress” that this new railway line will represent.