Strait Bridge, EU to allocate 24.7 million for the design. Ahead with the Turin-Lyon rail line

Brussels – Ahead with the Turin-Lyon rail line and, above all, full steam ahead with the bridge over the Strait of Messina: the feasibility study of the major work urged by Transport Minister Matteo Salvini is the most significant element for Italy in the list of smart and sustainable mobility projects that the European Commission has decided to finance with seven billion euros. Among the 134 projects Brussels thinks deserves financial support is the bridge, to which it allocated 24.7 million euros. .

According to the summary of the technical note of the Commission, “the project aims to complete the technical design of the rail-road bridge over the Messina strait, to connect the Calabria Region and the island of Sicily.” These are preparatory studies for future construction sites since, it is pointed out, “The main benefit of the project will be to prepare the future construction of the bridge.”

The Meloni government cashes in on a positive political result as the EU kept its promises of infrastructure contributions. However, as the Commissioner for Transport, Adina Valean made clear, to date, existing conditions are such that only the railway part of the facility can be financed. The decision to include the Bridge on the Strait of Messina within the major European inter-modal transport networks (Ten-T) made it possible for the project to be selected.

The government also collects the appreciation of Wopke Hoekstra, Commissioner for Climate Action. The selected projects, including the feasibility study for the bridge, “will help transform Europe’s transport network, making cleaner transport modes more efficient and attractive for passengers and freight while enhancing safety across the TEN-T.”

The bridge over the Strait of Messina is just one of the Italian projects included in the seven-billion-euro investment package. There are seven projects concerning only internal mobility within the country, plus cross-border projects. They include the Turin-Lyon rail line, which will receive 700 million euros. A decision that will reignite the debate, which has never been resolved in Italy, between those in favor and against the high-speed rail line and that reached the European Parliament, confirming once again that the rail link will be done.

“The main results of the project will be the timely completion of the cross-border rail connection between France and Italy (Lyon-Turin), enhancing rail capacity for passenger and freight traffic,” according to the accompanying note. Specifically, the €700 million made available for the rail link concerns work between Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne and Susa/Bussoleno. It includes the connection to the existing line in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, the Mont-Cenis cross-border base tunnel (around 57.7 km), the Susa valley crossing, the interconnecting tunnel between Susa and Bussoleno (around 2 km) and the entry into the existing Bussoleno railway station.