French engineer Eiffage has landed a €190m contract to connect the Mont Cenis base tunnel, the longest on the forthcoming Lyon–Turin rail line, with the existing rail network.

The Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne interconnection, as the project is called, will be built by Eiffage Génie Civil and Eiffage Rail for French rail operator SNCF Réseau. Another French company, Systra, will act as project manager.

Eiffage’s scope of work includes construction of retaining walls, noise barriers, viaducts and underpasses.

The team expects to use 100,000 cubic metres of concrete, and will backfill 1.5 million cubic metres with material excavated from the base tunnel.

It will also install a dedicated freight line with the Trimet aluminium smelter and modernise the historic Maurienne valley line.

Work on the project began this month, and will be carried out across four phases with completion expected in 2032.

The Lyon to Turin rail line aims to take as many as a million heavy vehicles off Alpine roads a year, reducing carbon emissions by 3 million tonnes.