Lyon Turin High speed railway – Base Tunnel Lot 1 (SITE 5)

Crossing the Alps

The Turin-Lyon connection is a new railway line for the transport of goods and passengers that extends for 270 km, of which 70% in France and 30% in Italy. It is the central ring of the Mediterranean Corridor, one of the 9 axes of the trans-European transport network. The 65 km cross-border section between Italy and France is the central part of the project.
 

Turin-Lyon: Central ring of the Mediterranean corridor

The European Union has designed 9 corridors (TEN-T network) to promote the sustainable movement of people and goods: the Mediterranean Corridor, which extends from Budapest (Hungary) to Algeciras (southern Spain) and will include the Turin-Lyon line. It will ensure a link, across the Alps, between Western Europe and Eastern and Central Europe, and aims to promote economic trade and strengthen the competitiveness of the countries of Mediterranean Europe.
 

A Few Numbers

The main activities that the JV is in charge of carrying out on the transalpine railway that will connect France and Italy in a fast and sustainable way, concern excavations and safety (including the provision of two chambers for the disassembly of TBM from the adjacent lot 2).

The section affected by the works of "Lot 1", from Modane in the direction of Turin, is the one with the highest overburden: over two thousand meters. It will be mostly excavated by 2 TBMs and the operations consist in the construction of the base tunnel (2 tubes of about 22 km each) with all its ancillary structures.

It starts from the Villarodin-Bourget Modane, a double tunnel of about 3.7 km excavated with the traditional method in the direction of Lyon; and the one of about 18 km, also with two tunnels, excavated by TBMs in the direction of Turin.

Ghella will also be responsible for the excavation and lining of the cross-passages between tubes (3 elements per km); the management of both the disposal areas of Les Moulins and Les Tierces and the Villarodin-Bourget Modane platform for all logistics and support for underground works, and that of Avrieux, for the purpose of ventilation.