WRITTEN QUESTION E-0105/03

by Luciano Caveri (ELDR) to the Commission

(28 January 2003)

Subject: Expansion of the Mont Blanc and Fréjus road tunnels

While the Turin-Lyons rail link unfortunately seems to have hit the doldrums yet again, the Italian government has embarked on the immediate expansion, in the shape of new shafts, of the current Mont Blanc and Fréjus tunnels, which are part of the Trans-European Transport Network. However, it has not taken into consideration the Transport White Paper or the Alpine Convention and its transport protocol, which state that priority should be given to rail in the Alpine Arc rather than to further development of the road system. At the same time, the local populations on both sides of the tunnels are completely opposed to this idea and the French Government is half-hearted about it. Does the Commission have any information on this matter and what is its assessment of it?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(7 March 2003)

The Commission has no information about any programme for the immediate construction of second road tunnels for the Mont Blanc and Fréjus tunnels, but there is a project to build an evacuation tunnel parallel to the current Fréjus tunnel.

Among other things, the guidelines adopted by the Commission for the programmes under the Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund for the period 2000-2006 encourage a balance between modes of transport.

The Commission attaches great importance to finding a solution for the transit of goods across the Alps, in particular between France and Italy. It therefore remains very concerned by the consequences in terms of safety, environment and quality of life of the local communities of the ever-growing recourse to road transport in the Alps. In this context, the new Lyon-Turin transalpine rail link is extremely important in order to cope with the increase in congestion in this area. This position has been repeated on numerous occasions by the Commission before Parliament and to the authorities of the two countries concerned by the project. In addition, the inevitable enlargement of the EU towards the East now puts the Lyon-Turin route in a pivotal position to meet the growing need for mobility of goods and persons between the EU's western regions and the countries of the Danube and the Balkans, across the dynamic regions of the north of Italy. This link is at present the only major East-West rail project giving priority to freight that is at an advanced planning stage. To this end, EUR 100 million has already been earmarked for the carrying-out out of studies on the Montmélian-Bussoleno section in the framework of the Indicative Multiannual Programme (IMP) under the budget for the trans-European transport network. In order to contribute more effectively to the programme of studies in progress, it has been decided to increase the financial support for 2002 significantly by earmarking for that year appropriations initially intended for a longer period. So far, the Community support has always been topped up by co-financing 50/50 by the two States in question.

On 13 February 2002, the French National Assembly adopted on first reading a proposal for a law authorising the approval of the Agreement of 29 January 2001 between the French and the Italian Governments on the completion of the Lyon-Turin line by 2015. The Italian Parliament did likewise on 18 September 2002.

Mention should be made, by way of information, of the conclusions of a study conducted by Lyon Turin ferroviaire (LTF), Réseau ferré de France (RFF) and Reta Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI), forecasting the saturation of the France-Italy rail route within fifteen years and a considerable increase in pressure on roads on all the French crossings, if the Lyon-Turin project is not completed, unlike the situation in Switzerland where rail projects will make it possible to control road traffic flows within thirty years.