High-speed rail link through Alps on track
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• by Jez Abbott
Prefrninary plans for a 52km high-speed rail link through the Alps have been approved by the French and Italian governments.
Italian Prime Minister Giuliano Amato, his French counterpart Lionel Jospin and French President Jacques Chirac met earlier this week to approve finance for engineering studies.
The tunnel will halve the time from Turin to Lyons to two hours. But some pundits fear that its budget of .£3.8bn will spiral, as did the Channel Tunnels budget.
The Freight Transport Association's Geoff Dossetter welcomes the plans, but warns: "People will only use it if it is able to deliver in a way that's attractive to them. There was not massive enthusiasm for the Channel Tunnel and the same could apply here."
Mike Freeman, the Road Haulage Association's head of international affairs, says the rail link is unlikely to replace vehicle movements unless it is cost effective: "It is too early
to guess the impact on hauliers, but if it uses roll-on roll-off freight services it may be beneficial."
Plans for the project, conceived in 1994, were accelerated after the tragic Mont Blanc tunnel fire in 1999 which killed 41 people. The road tunnel carried half the freight between Italy and France; it is due to reopen in the autumn.
Earlier this month French PM Jospin said his government aimed to double rail freight over the next 10 years.