The TAV Turin–Lyon continues to be a source of tension between supporters and opponents. First, the European Court of Auditors condemned the project, labelling it "uneconomical" and polluting; then the newly elected mayor of Lyon Grégory Doucet (of the Europe Écologie–Les Verts party, the French Greens) piled on, arguing that betting on the new high-speed line is "the worst choice" because "a rail infrastructure already exists, it is sufficient, and that is what we should be investing in".

So, as was predictable, all hell broke loose: first, French Deputy Minister for Transport Jean-Baptiste Djebbari distanced himself from Doucet, stating that "Paris will press ahead" and that by 2023 France will connect the Lyon hub to the French portal of the base tunnel at Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne. Then Piedmont regional environment councillor Matteo Marnati weighed in, arguing that "today the train is the only means of transport that allows polluting emissions in the air to be reduced" and that once the Turin–Lyon is fully operational it will "save up to 3 million tonnes of CO2 per year".

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🌻Le nouveau maire écologiste de Lyon Grégory Doucet est l'invité d'euronews.

La ligne à grande vitesse Lyon-Turin est-elle une mauvaise idée ?

Sa réponse ↪️

Et retrouvez l'interview complète dans #TheGlobalConversation ici : fr.euronews.com/programmes/glo…

💬 1 16 lug 2020 · Apri su X →

TAV, up to 50 years to absorb the emissions produced during construction

Each side focuses on the data that supports its own position. In his statement, for example, Marnati makes no mention of the total emissions produced during the project's construction phase. A calculation has already been carried out by the project's own promoters: in volume 8, published in 2011 under the title Analisi costi-benefici, the Turin–Lyon observatory, directed by Mario Virano, shows that throughout the entire construction of the tunnel emissions will increase by approximately one million tonnes of CO2 per year, accumulating over time to more than 12 million tonnes. Furthermore, according to the observatory, the negative effect could last up to 12 years after the work is completed.

The calculations of the European Court of Auditors, however, are far worse. In a special report, the EU body wrote that it had used "independent experts", according to whom the CO2 emissions produced by the construction of the cross-border section (that is, only the part at the border between Italy and France, namely the twin-bore tunnel) amount to 10 million tonnes, which will be "offset only 25 years after the infrastructure enters service". This is provided that the projected traffic levels are met. If traffic were to reach only half of what is forecast, it could take 50 years.

And on the subject of traffic estimates, in a parliamentary question MEP Dario Tamburrano asked the European Commission whether it has the calculations on the emissions linked to "construction, operation and maintenance" of the line, highlighting that such activities result in "a reduction in emissions over a 50-year time horizon only if the line is used by at least 10 million passengers per year". Yet according to the observatory itself, the capacity of the TAV Turin–Lyon is estimated at 4 million per year.

The exorbitant costs of the project

So even if, as supporters of the project maintain, shifting lorries from road to rail will save tonnes of CO2, the problem of immediately halting the causes of global warming remains. Not in a few decades' time. As meteorologist Luca Mercalli, among others, confirms.

mauduitf ☮️ 🇵🇸 🇮🇷 🇱🇧 @mauduitf

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240km de tunnel sur le #Lyonturin entre l'aeroport à 30mn du centre de Lyon et Turin, 26 milliards de budget pour gagner 1h pour à peine + d'1 million de passagers actuels et la 1ere ligne capable de transporter 80% des marchandises et qui n'en prend que 14%. Où est l'utilité?

♥ 1 3 ott 2017 · Apri su X →

But at this point, is it worth stopping? To answer this question, a number of elements need to be clarified. For a start, the European Court of Auditors is explicit about the timescales: "It is likely that the TAV will not be ready by 2030." The Court speaks specifically of a "high risk" that by 2030 the Italian and French connecting infrastructures will not be completed in order to make the cross-border section operational. Of the entire project, according to data released by Telt, approximately 30 kilometres of the 162 kilometres of underground tunnels required for the work have so far been excavated. This means that 18.5 per cent of the planned tunnels have been completed, but the backbone of the project — the base tunnel between Italy and France — has stalled at 9 kilometres, entirely dug from the French construction site at Saint-Martin-La-Porte.

Would closing the construction site entail losses that are too high?

Moreover, the initial projected costs for the cross-border section of the TAV Turin–Lyon have grown over the years by approximately 85 per cent — the Court notes — rising from an original estimate of 5.2 billion euros to 9.6 billion euros (while the cost of the entire project was estimated by the French Court of Auditors at 26.1 billion euros). This figure is to be divided between Italy, France and the European Union, and would entail expenditure on Italy's part of between 2.5 and 3.3 billion euros. The Court did not explain whether halting the project — abandoning it definitively — would today entail greater costs than completing it. As former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte argued in July of the previous year.

Agenzia ANSA ✓ @Agenzia_Ansa

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Conte annuncia in diretta: 'La #Tav si farà, per l'Italia meno costi, sono aumentati i fondi #Ue. Non farla costerebbe di più che farla' #ANSA ansa.it/sito/notizie/c…

♥ 80💬 27 23 lug 2019 · Apri su X →

But according to the economists who signed the cost-benefit analysis, the TAV will result in an economic loss for Italy of between 5 and 8 billion euros. "Part of the money already spent will certainly be lost, but at least we will save what will be invested in the coming years," was the comment of Francesco Ramella, one of the signatories, following the publication of the analysis. A year on, and with a pandemic in between, nothing has changed, yet the construction site presses on despite the critical opinions: in June, Telt awarded new contracts for the tunnel worth 250 million euros.