ABOUT 1200 environmental protesters occupied a railway viaduct in Provence
last month in an attempt to force French Railways to change the route of
a high-speed railway line, the TGV Mediterranee. It is the first TGV plan
to cause a major environmental protest. The French want to extend the train
a grande vitesse to Marseilles from Lyons, 350 kilometres to the north.
The environmentalists want the trains to run on existing lines instead of
building a new railway. Because of the protests the French minister of transport
has decided to delay announcing the final route. The new line will cut 30
minutes off the current three-hour journey.
Meanwhile, more than 500 engineers and other specialists met in Marrakesh
last month to debate the relative merits of a bridge or a tunnel – including
a railway – across the Straits of Gibraltar.
