An abrupt and wholly unexpected halt has hit the discussion and subsequent approval of the project for the Italian section between Avigliana and Orbassano of the new Turin–Lyon railway. Friday 23 January 2026 had been set for the first session of the Conferenza di Servizi (Conference of Services) involving all the stakeholders, more than fifty institutions, authorities and companies tasked with the final assessment of the project. At the last minute, however, the meeting was cancelled and tentatively postponed until March.
Officially, the reason given was a request from local administrations and the Città metropolitana di Torino (Metropolitan City of Turin) for more time to examine the project and submit their observations. In reality, this looks like creeping, and barely disguised, obstructionism. The affair goes beyond local reporting and stands as an emblematic and paradoxical example of how public works, and in particular road and rail infrastructure, are often subject to bargaining logic rather than assessed on their merits.
The Conference of Services has in fact strengthened the front of mayors in the area who oppose the infrastructure over alleged negative environmental impacts, but who on this occasion have played the card of insufficient funding for local transport. The argument advanced is that, while on the one hand there are no public resources to complete the Turin underground network, on the other the State is committed to financing a project whose whole-life construction cost has risen to €2.9 billion because of the complexity of works beneath the Rivoli–Avigliana morainic amphitheatre.
It should be specified, however, that even recently the Commissione Europea (European Commission) confirmed its willingness to finance up to 50% of the construction costs, including for the national sections, of the new Turin–Lyon line. Despite this, municipalities want priority to be given first to the Turin metro in order to secure the resources needed for planned but as yet unbuilt sections, and only afterwards to intervene on the railway. It is legitimate to ask whether this is merely a matter of priorities, or whether it conceals the real intention of buying time and effectively blocking the project.
The final design by Rfi of the rail variant linking the Turin node to the gateway of the Val di Susa represents the first section, within three functional phases, of the new line from Avigliana to the Orbassano freight terminal as far as the Pronda junction. The overall length is just under 24 kilometres, including modifications to the Avigliana and Orbassano installations required to integrate the new tracks. The most significant engineering works along the new alignment are the construction of a double tunnel eight kilometres long beneath the morainic hill, together with a cut-and-cover tunnel extending for four kilometres.
The Italian section of the Turin–Lyon also includes a further tunnel variant, the Orsiera tunnel between Avigliana and Bussoleno, but this stage has been excluded and postponed to a time horizon beyond 2035. While the fate of this section remains undecided, an intermediate project has been chosen that provides for, at limited cost, the upgrading of the existing railway between Avigliana, the outlet of the variant now awaiting approval, and Bussoleno. According to forecasts, the new Orbassano–Avigliana line should enter service at the same time as the cross-border section of the Turin–Lyon, which includes the Mont Cenis base tunnel.
Piermario Curti Sacchi
