France and Italy sign new agreement for Turin-Lyon high speed line

France Transport Minister Alain Vidalies and Italian Transport Minister Maurizio Lupi have signed the key documents giving green light “to definitive construction of the cross-border section of the new rail line” Lyon-Turin. The agreement was accompanied by a joint letter to Brussels authorities to obtain European financing from the 2014-2020 budget for the project.
France and Italy have already spent about one billion euros on planning, preliminary studies and some initial structural work. About 3 billion euros will now be allocated to start construction of the 57-kilometer transalpine tunnel. The EU should contribute over 40% (about 1.3 billion euros). Italy’s contribution will be about 1 billion euros, and that of France about 800 million euros. The cost of the entire cross-border tunnel is estimated at 8.3 billion euros.