More than three months after the passage of the storm Alex in the Alpes-Maritimes, the victims still have to face many problems.
The inhabitants of Haute-Roya, living on the border with Italy, will have to wait at least until spring for the return of the train, a vital link for the valley ravaged by the exceptional floods of October 2, SNCF announced on Friday. Network.
"All of the line reconstruction work has been completed and should have made it possible to resume circulation on January 18," said Karim Touati, regional director of SNCF Réseau during a press point, without giving a new precise date.
"The arcade wall is not stabilized and it is not possible to resume between Breil-sur-Roya and Tende as initially envisaged", he said, after presenting numerous photos of this hotspot of this mountain line, damaged by the storm.
Once stabilized perhaps by February 15, additional work will be necessary for "a few weeks".
A restoration of this “vital” rail axis
The cost of the reconstruction, to be borne by the region, the State, the department, SNCF Réseau and the insurers, is estimated at 50 million euros, half of which to repair this wall on which the train passed on the side. of Mountain.
Weakened by erosion, this wall continues to move, even if it is a little less than before.
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Huge work has already been carried out to divert the bed of the river and deposit 6,000 m3 of riprap at the foot of the structure.
Repairs, carried out by recall on the wall and with the logistical support of helicopters, were slowed down by the winter.
“We are fully aware of the imperative and vital nature of re-establishing this rail axis, a vital link between the inhabitants and the valley.
We commit to it as much as we can and we work on it all the time.
At the same time, we are required to guarantee its safety, ”added Karim Touati, whose teams have been hard at work since the day after the disaster.
North of Tende, the Italian line taking the pass to descend into Italian Piedmont is however operational and traffic normal, said SNCF Réseau.
Downstream from Breil-sur-Roya towards the sea and Ventimiglia, "the storm swept the way for several hundred meters" according to Karim Touati: "works and studies have been launched" but the distribution of tasks with the Italians is not fixed.
