For or against big trans-European rail networks? EuroparlTV reports on the Lyon-Turin rail link project.

Reporter: Connecting Europe

'NO TAV' protesters on one side,  police on the other

and the Maddalena di Chiomonte  construction site in between,

the first evidence of work  on the Turin-Lyon rail link.

This step towards trans-European  mobility for Paris, Rome and Brussels

is another pointless project  to the protesters.

People have been opposed to this project  for 20 years.

Work to fence off the Maddalena  was completed in June.

Failure to do this would have lost Italy  EU funding for the new Turin-Lyon link.

It's just a stronghold  built by the forces of disorder

and it's been put up in an area  not intended for the construction site,

It symbolises a tremendous act  of deception, a massive lie.

The 'NO TAV' demonstration  broke into the red zone,

Scores of police officers  await the protesters near Baita Clarea.

Corridor 5 passes through here,  linking Turin and Lyon

on the proposed Lisbon-Kiev route, part  of the Trans-European Networks project.

Protesters claim that simply upgrading  the existing line will improve mobility.

Predictions about transnational traffic  have been overestimated, they believe.

In a valley already penetrated  by other invasive communication links,

the tunnel would cause  even more destruction.

Who will profit from this project?  -The construction firms.

And as a result, by extension,  the big parties

who entered into pre-election agreements  with these firms.

Mario Virano,  the Government Commissioner,

believes the protesters  are not considering the future

which was designed  in the mid-19th century

is too small for modern containers  to pass through.

For the last six years, trains have been  running on a single track for 14km.

The Turin-Lyon journey  will take two hours,

but the real aim is to remove  one million HGVs from the road,

since traffic volume  is set to increase until 2030.

For now figures are lower  than had been anticipated,

The Mayor of Chambéry believes  these should not influence decisions.

Even if between 2008 and 2010,  or between 2000 and 2010,

there have been developments that may not  be as big as we had imagined at the time,

the fact remains that if we want  to build a European market,

we need to create ways  for goods to be transported.

The base tunnel costs 8.5 billion euros,

and assuming that  the EU's 40% contribution continues,

the cost for Italy,  the investment for Italy

and the investment for France  is about 2 billion plus.

The whole stretch will cost around  20 billion euros, exclusively public money,

'NO TAV' protesters are demanding  greater transparency about time and cost.

The estimated cost of the project  for Italy is 9 billion euros.

Once the exploratory Maddalena tunnel  is completed, within four to six years,

The estimated completion time  is ten years.

The tunnel that will link Turin and Lyon  through the Alps should be ready in 2023.

to see whether funding  of 3.5 billion euros will be confirmed.

We are likely to find out  by December 2012.