The EU Court of Auditors says “no Tav”: the Turin-Lyon railway line is becoming increasingly expensive and behind schedule

Brussels – The Turin-Lyon railway line? Nothing good. This statement does not come from the “no tav” committees, but from the European Court of Auditors in its special report on the progress of works classified as “transport flagship infrastructure” (TFI). Delays in construction, increased final costs, and failure to meet planned deadlines make the Turin-Lyon line one of the examples of European and Italian shortcomings in public works. 

It should be emphasised that not everything depends on bad politics. In the political and economic design of large transport networks (TEN-T), strategic European construction sites “have faced additional challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, compounded by new regulatory requirements and some unexpected technical challenges,” according to the Luxembourg auditors. However, costs have more than doubled compared to initial estimates. In the last six years alone, there has been a 23 per cent deviation from the updated estimates, but overall, from the €5.2 billion initially planned when the project was given the green light in 2000, the total estimated costs have risen to €11.8 billion, i.e. 127 per cent more.

There’s more. The official completion date for three flagship transport infrastructure projects, including the much-discussed Turin-Lyon line, is now scheduled for beyond 2030, “which means that the deadline for completing the EU’s TEN-T core network, set for 2030, will not be met,” laments the Court of Auditors’ report. If all goes well, the inauguration will have to wait until 2033, “contrary to the 2015 deadline initially set or the 2030 deadline indicated in the 2020 timetable”. The most optimistic opening date for the Brenner Base Tunnel is now 2032, rather than 2016 or 2028 as previously planned. 

“Transport flagship infrastructure projects should help to reshape Europe, bring people closer together and facilitate economic activity,” says Annemie Turtelboom, the Member of the Court responsible for the update report. “However,” she criticises, “thirty years after they were first designed, we are still a long way from inaugurating these projects and achieving the planned improvements in terms of freight and passenger flows across Europe.” 

The Turin-Lyon high-speed railway line is a 270-kilometre stretch for passenger and freight rail transport within the wider “Mediterranean Corridor“, one of the main axes of the large European intermodal transport network. Divided between France (70 per cent of the route, approximately 189 kilometres) and Italy (30 per cent, approximately 81 kilometres), considered strategic in Brussels, the project has already been the cause of all-Italian intra-governmental tensions, as well as European inter-governmental friction between Italy and France, and warnings from the European Commission.  Now, the Court of Auditors has added its voice.