It will have been closed for 582 days, but one of the key rail connections between France and Italy now has an official opening date. After more than a year of landslide-scuppered rail links, the Director of SNCF’s TGV-Intercités has revealed exactly when the Fréjus Railway, known as Mont Cenis in French, will return to life. And that means the high-speed Milan–Paris link is coming back.
Alain Krakovitch, Director for TGV-Intercités at SNCF, has revealed on X that the Fréjus Railway, which connects Turin to France in Modane and has been shuttered since August 2023 due to a massive landslide, is set to reopen on 31 March. That means Trenitalia’s recently launched – and then summarily axed – high-speed Milan–Lyon–Paris service will start again from April.
Il #Frecciarossa 1000 🚄 di #TrenitaliaFrance 🇫🇷 tornerà a viaggiare tra #Milano e #Parigi a partire dal prossimo aprile dopo l’interruzione del tunnel ferroviario del Frejus @trenitalia_fr | @Frecciarossa_IT
👇https://t.co/kfRlfvOgHJ
— FS News (@fsnews_it) January 9, 2025
The landslide in Saint-André à La Praz on the French side of the iconic tunnel has had a massive impact on passenger and freight services between Italy and France. Not only did it cut short Trenitalia’s flagship Italian–French offer just two years after it was launched; it also led to either cancellations or rerouting of many other cross-border services, including links between cities like Turin, Chambéry, and Lyon.
From the first quarter to a definitive date
The various parties involved – Trenitalia, SNCF Réseau, and the French Department of Savoie – had said the railway line would be reopening in the first quarter of 2025, with the former perhaps accidentally announcing that the line would indeed come back to life in March (you can read RailTech’s full report on the over-eager announcement here). However, Krakovitch has now pushed the reveal button.
Nous allons réouvrir nos liaisons entre Paris et l’Italie !
Turin et Milan à nouveau accessibles en @TGVINOUI à 100%, après des mois difficiles suite à l’éboulement de la Maurienne. Mais sans jamais laisser tomber nos clients : un service bus était proposé sur le tronçon… pic.twitter.com/gLSRWii53h
— Alain Krakovitch (@alainkrakovitch) January 21, 2025
“We are going to reopen our connections between Paris and Italy!” the French train executive wrote on X earlier this week. “Turin and Milan are once again 100 per cent accessible on TGV Inoui, after some difficult months following the Maurienne landslide. But without ever letting our customers down: a bus service was offered on the affected section. Reopening on 31 March.”
Ciao Italia!
The return of the line is huge news for passengers, but also for politicians on either side of the Fréjus Tunnel, who had become increasingly angry about the delays in getting the line back on track. The main issue had been securing the precarious cliff that hangs over the route. But that was secured in November, paving the way for SNCF workers to start repairing the tunnel head and begin restoring the catenary, detector nets, and signalling cables.
You can read RailTech’s article on the struggles faced by the French infrastructure manager in returning the line to full working order below. That includes how long the route’s importance will likely dwindle in the future, as the higher-capacity Lyon–Turin high-speed railway, set for completion by 2033, readies to replace the Fréjus route. In the meantime though, Krakovitch’s announcement will be music to the ears of cross-border travellers; time to forget “Dov’è la ferrovia?” and move on to “Ciao Italia!”
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