---
title: A new link between France and Italy with the second tube of the Fréjus tunnel
url: "https://www.systra.com/en/news/a-new-link-between-france-and-italy-with-the-second-tube-of-the-frejus-tunnel/"
type: post
date_published: 2025-07-31
date_modified: 2025-07-31
schema:
  @type: Article
language: en-US
word_count: 271
reading_time: 2 min
canonical: "https://www.systra.com/en/news/a-new-link-between-france-and-italy-with-the-second-tube-of-the-frejus-tunnel/"
featured_image: "https://www.systra.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/shared-image-2025-07-30t110607-102.jpg"
categories:
  - Non classé
---

# A new link between France and Italy with the second tube of the Fréjus tunnel

![A new link between France and Italy with the second tube of the Fréjus tunnel](https://www.systra.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/shared-image-2025-07-30t110607-102.jpg)

Transport ministers Philippe Tabarot and Matteo Salvini inaugurated the new
Fréjus tunnel, which now separates the directions of traffic between France and
Italy in two separate tubes. This is the culmination of a long-term project
started in 2009 by the i3S consortium comprising SYSTRA (lead), SWS (civil
engineering) and Geodata (geology – geotechnics).

For 10 years, SYSTRA was in charge of the engineering and construction of this
tunnel, carrying out the studies and approvals, managing the construction
contracts and monitoring the work on site, right up to the handover of the
project on 31 January 2020.

The entire project was carried out without interrupting traffic in the historic
tunnel, which has been in service since 1980 and runs parallel to the new route.
This project has enabled SYSTRA to strengthen its expertise in the management of
underground projects and to work closely with the SWS teams, which were
[integrated into SYSTRA Italy in 2021](https://www.systra.com/en/news/systra-strengthens-its-expertise-in-tunnels-with-the-acquisition-of-the-italian-company-sws/)
.

Today, the Fréjus tunnel is the longest double-tube road tunnel in Europe. Every
year, almost 2 million vehicles, including 1 million heavy goods vehicles, use
this vital link between Modane in France and Bardonecchia in Italy. Following a
road accident in 2005, it was decided to double the infrastructure by digging a
second tunnel, initially designed as a safety gallery, which in 2012 became a
fully-fledged road tunnel to separate the directions of traffic.

![shared-image-2025-07-30t110613-969](https://www.systra.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/shared-image-2025-07-30t110613-969-1352x761.jpg)

_Entry to the second tube of the Fréjus tunnel, inaugurated on 28 July 2025_

**Categories:** Non classé