France will invest in Turin-Lyon access routes after all
After a few turbulent months, France is ready to invest up to three billion euros in the access routes to the Turin-Lyon tunnel, said the French Minister of Transport, Clément Beaune. He also pointed out that the government and the European Union cannot be the only ones putting money in and that now the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region needs to do its part.
Beaune’s statement was made during an interview with French media outlet Porgrés. It is relevant because the project has been surrounded by controversies since the report by the Infrastructure Orientation Council (COI) leaked in January and published in February.
The COI, a governmental advisory body under the Ministry of Transport, proposed to invest in the modernisation of the Dijon-Modane railway before providing access to the tunnel from Lyon. However, it seems that the French government has decided otherwise and will invest in access routes to the tunnel from Lyon.
Will the disagreements end?
The decision was welcomed by a group of former French politicians that, in March, urged the government to give a decisive push to the project. This was followed by a similar initiative brought forward by almost 60 current politicians in April. However, there are also those who are against the plan for the Turin-Lyon railway. In December, 150 French public personalities published a letter asking to stop the project.
Image: © TELT
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