The temporary multimodal interchange hub of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne will become operational in mid-June. The new hub, built by SNCF on behalf of TELT, will replace the old station during the period of work to connect the existing railway lines to the new Lyon-Turin base tunnel and will then be transformed into the definitive international station.
The temporary structure includes a bus station, a passenger building with counters and a waiting room, spaces for parking cars and bicycles, city bus stops, taxi stands, and new points of access to the railway tracks. It makes it possible to provide support for travellers at the same time as maintaining the operation of the bus and train stations during the works for the new line.
At the same time, the other above ground and underground works in Italy and France are in progress, in accordance with the timetable agreed with the European Union.
The works in France
On the French side, traditional excavation of the base tunnel at Saint-Martin-la-Porte is progressing. At the end of January, less than the length of a football pitch (94.50 metres) remains before the breakthrough between the two excavation fronts.
In Saint-Julien-Montdenis, following the strengthening of the banks along the river Arc, the construction of the cut-and-cover tunnel and of the entrance portal to the base tunnel, which were completed in the autumn of 2021, the group that won the contract to excavate the base tunnel between the cut-and-cover tunnel and Saint-Martin-la-Porte began the first field activities: site facilities, office extension and installations for the jet grouting test field for consolidation of the first section of the natural tunnel. Work has also begun at the La Praz platform from where the section of tunnel to Modane will be excavated.
At Villarodin-Bourget/Modane, while injections continue at the construction site for the ventilation shafts of the Avrieux tunnel, work is proceeding on the link tunnel to the ventilation shaft, and the last 2.5-metre blast has completed the excavation of the spoil storage cave at the bottom of the access adit, which has a final length of 11.80 metres.
The works in Italy
In Italy, work is progressing on the interchange niches in the Maddalena tunnel, which will be used during excavation of the base tunnel, while above ground work is starting on the new junction on the A32, for which Sitaf (the motorway concessionaire for the A32, which is carrying out the work on behalf of TELT) awarded the contract at the end of the year. In the Salbertrand area, which will host the site for the reuse of the excavated materials, the first phase of removal of the heaps of materials abandoned over the years by various subjects has been completed and the tender for the cleaning of another portion of the site is under way. TELT is carrying out this operation on the instructions of the CIPESS “against” those responsible for dumping the materials.
After TELT’s board of directors had given the green light in December to the awarding of the work management for the works on the Susa plain and the Susa-Bussoleno interconnection, in mid-February 2022, the CIPESS approved the funding of more than €400 million for the works above ground on the Italian side (4th construction lot).
