WRITTEN QUESTION E-1245/00

by Raffaele Costa (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(14 April 2000)

Subject: Turin-Lyon railway line

On 21 February 2000 François Lamoureux, Director in the Commission's Directorate-General for Energy and Transport, wrote to the Secretary-General of the development committee of the European Lyon-Turin-Milan/Genoa-Venice-Trieste-Ljubljana railway line, Professor Bruno Bottiglieri, saying that he fully agreed with the analysis of the benefits of the project in terms of capacity, safety and reliability.

Given that, despite the more than 60 million allocated by the Community to the Trans-Alpine link between Turin and Lyon over the past ten years, the project is far from having a certain and stable future, can the Commission say what it is doing to ensure that a clear political decision is finally taken this year on the next stages of implementation of the project and to clarify the responsibilities and degree of involvement of the competent Ministry and Italian regions and local authorities in respect of completion of the Lyon-Turin-Milan-Ljubljana rail link?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(25 May 2000)

In the Commission's view, the key short-term objective for accelerating the implementation of the Lyon-Torino-Milano-Venezia-Trieste-(Ljubljana) project is the achievement of a political decision on construction of the international trans-Alpine section. At the Franco-Italian summit in Nîmes in 1999, the two governments committed themselves to taking a definitive decision on the construction of the international Mont Cenis tunnel in the autumn of 2000. The Commission will continue to urge both Member States to reach a positive conclusion on this front, and to make commensurate planning statements concerning the adjacent sections between Lyon and St Jean-de-Maurienne on the French side, and between the Susa valley and Torino on the Italian side.

The decision on the tunnel must be taken on a sound basis. The Commission therefore expects that the results of environmental, economic and technical studies undertaken by the international economic interest group Alpetunnel should be delivered in time during the summer 2000.

It is important not to pre-empt the final results of the studies described above. However, the Commission has supported these studies and associated activities on the basis that the project's socio-economic viability is strong, and that it will contribute substantially to re-balancing the distribution of Alpine traffic between the different transport modes. This in turn should help to reduce problems of safety, environment and congestion in existing trans-Alpine traffic.

Regarding developments on the Italian side, the Commission notes with approval the commitment by the Italian authorities to implementation of key sections. In particular, with regard to the Torino Trieste part (460 km of new line, bringing the axis up to 4 tracks), works have started on some key nodes and their respective access lines. On the Torino-Milano and Padova Mestre sections, works are expected to start in 2000/2001, with opening aimed at for around 2006.

The Commission is willing to play an active role in animating and co-ordinating discussions on the phasing and financing of the projects in question, once the outstanding political decisions have been taken, whether these discussions are at international level or between national authorities and those at local or regional level. Regarding the financing of the international section, the Commission is particularly aware of the need to take account of suggestions made by some regions concerning the use of public-private partnerships and the need to consider the impact of infrastructure pricing policy on possible sources of revenue.