Rail traffic between Italy and France, is once again disrupted twill be so at least until next week due to a mudslide near Modane, along the main line between the two countries. This is happening three months after the infrastructure reopened following a 19-month closure due a landslide.
“On Saturday, one of the two tracks should reopen, allowing trains to run in one direction for the time being. The secondary tracks are unusable at the moment, so we are unable to transport freight. Surely not before next week”, a representative from Captrain told RailFreight.com. At least 100 metres of the tracks in Modane are covered in mud, French infrastructure manager SNCF Réseau said.
Damages also on the Italian side
Other than the issues in France, there were some flooding events on the Italian side of the railway as well. On 1 July, the railway near Bardonecchia, 20 kilometres from Modane, was temporarily closed, but has since been reopened. These kinds of extreme weather events are occurring in a more frequent and violent manner in many European places.
This area between Italy and France specifically saw a massive landslide closing the railway between August 2023 and March 2025. This development has had terrible consequences for the Italian industry and economy in general, and a great impact on the European economy as well. The situation should improve once the Turin-Lyon new link opens, but that will be well into the 2030s.
