Turin, Saint-Martin-La-Porte 27 August 2015
On the occasion of a bilateral meeting between Italy and France regarding the Turin-Lyon line, President Hubert du Mesnil and Managing Director Mario Virano of TELT (Tunnel Euralpin Lyon Turin) welcomed representatives from the two Governments in the company’s Turin office and the Saint -Martin-La-Porte gallery worksite in Savoia.
At the end of the meeting, Italian Minister of Infrastructures and Transport Graziano Delrio and French Secretary of State for Transport Alain Vidalies met staff from the public promoter responsible for building and managing the Cross-border Section of the Turin-Lyon railway line.
This meeting focused on the joint decision to define the last pending matters 31 October to ensure that both Italian and French Parliaments can approve the agreement dated 24 February 2015 along with the additional protocol for certification of the costs and contract Regulations which, for the first time in Europe, establish standard anti-mafia rules for the entire works despite the nationality of the worksites involved.
The two Ministers and Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane CEO Michele Mario Elia visited the Saint-Martin-La-Porte worksite that opened in January 2015 to dig a tunnel around 9km long and with the diameter of the future southern tube of the cross-border tunnel and on returning to Italy Minister Delrio also visited the Chiomonte worksite, where the TBM has exceeded half of the 7.5km exploratory tunnel.
This has been a very satisfactory day, stated President Hubert du Mesnil, Both in terms of the information received and the attention that Italian and French representatives paid to the visit by Minsters Delrio and Vidalies, who we thank for the commitment they have made to supporting building of the Turin-Lyon line.
This visit ensures great impetus to completing the activities with regard to commencement of the basic works on the Tunnel and upcoming signature of the “Grant Agreement” with EU for funds, said Managing Director Mario Virano.