MEP anger at planned TGV route

STRASBOURG: Italian MEP Vittorio Agnoletto has said that the campaign against the new EU-funded TGV line from Lyon to Turin is set to intensify.

The high-speed line will pass through the Alpine valley of Susa, via an underground tunnel.

“There is no properly defined route. There is no proper environmental impact assessment…the debate is still completely in the air,” he said.

Agnoletto’s No TGV Movement presented EU transport commissioner Jacques Barrot with 3168 pages of signatures opposed to the project.

The Italian government on Tuesday challenged the MEP to move the focus of the debate “away from vested interests on both sides”.

Agnoletto insisted that the movement was not just about specific interests.

“This is not a case of politicians versus ‘nimbys’ [not in my backyards]. These are citizens who are in favour of a move towards rail travel as a whole, they are just opposed to this project,” he added.

"We properly warn the EU that...we will not allow this railway line to be built, whatever governments submit it," the group stated in a press release.

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