Is there a chance that the combined road-rail service using the Frejus railway between Italy and France could resume after its suspension in April 2025 for economic reasons? The answer may be yes, thanks to comments made by Paolo Foietta to the online portal RailFreight.com, published on 29 August 2025. The chairman of the Intergovernmental Commission for the Turin–Lyon railway stated that the Alpine Railway Motorway could restart operations before the end of the year. This appears to confirm the announcement Foietta himself made on 18 June during the Turin–Lyon Intergovernmental Conference regarding an agreement to finance the service with five million euros, split equally between Italy and France. The sum should secure operations for roughly one year. Foietta also added that the service would be open to other rail operators, thereby meeting a specific request from the European Commission, which must approve the agreement.
The green light from Brussels for the funding is the first step in a process that involves rebuilding the customer base, which in the two years of suspension of the rolling motorway found alternatives, both on the road and along other rail corridors. The long interruption has undermined operators’ confidence, and it remains to be seen whether one year of financing will be enough to win it back. Confidence is not helped by the announcement of the suspension of the Ralpin rolling motorway between Novara and Freiburg, scheduled for December 2025, three years earlier than originally planned. Here too, the reason is purely economic.
