lundi 19 mars 2012

Travaux au Tunnel des Montets.


Une réunion publique s’est tenue  à Argentière le 12 mars. Les élus de ma liste n’ont pas  été invités, nous ne sommes d’ailleurs jamais invités aux réunions d’Argentière, comme si ce village ne devait pas nous intéresser. Or, pour de nombreuses raisons, les élus de l’opposition se sentent très proches des habitants du haut de la vallée.
J’ai eu connaissance de ce rendez-vous  en dernière minute, tout à fait incidemment.
La salle est comble. Le maire Eric Fournier  fait une rapide présentation puis un ingénieur de RFF fait un exposé sur le projet.
Les travaux commencent le 1er avril. On démonte les rails, donc il n’y aura plus de trains. Des bus relieront Vallorcine  depuis Argentière. S'il neige beaucoup en avril et que le col est fermé, Vallorcine sera isolée de la France.
On refait une dalle de 4 m de large (2,50 m aujourd'hui) dans laquelle les rails sont noyés (comme pour un tram). Sur la gauche, un faux trottoir pour le 3è  rail électrique, interdit aux piétons.
Cela  fonctionne toujours en alternat, mais sans convoi obligatoire limité à  22 voitures/ 48 personnes avec masques obligatoires comme aujourd’hui. L’accès est libre. Des barrières commandent les entrées et régulent l'inter-distance de 100m. Donc il y aura beaucoup plus de passages autorisés qu’aujourd’hui.
La priorité sera donnée aux passages de voitures, donc le train à la 1/2 heure ne sera pas assuré si le col est fermé.
La voûte est isolée et étanchéifiée, puis doublée d’une coque en béton de 20 cm pour éviter la glace (jusqu'à 1m50 d'épaisseur sur les murs cet hiver, qu'il fallait tailler au pic tous les jours...).
Beaucoup ont regretté qu’on n’ait pas choisi de mettre des caténaires. Mais c’est  techniquement difficile et beaucoup plus cher : il aurait fallu creuser  assez bas au sol pour avoir la hauteur.
Côté Montroc, l’entrée des voitures dans le tunnel se fera par la place de la gare. La sortie se fera par la droite, côté Frasserands, le long des bâtiments SNCF. Il faudra ensuite franchir la côte du passage à niveau
puis négocier le virage en épingle à cheveux pour rattraper la route du Tour : pas facile !  Sinon, la descente pourrait se faire  par le village des Frasserands, ce qui ne serait sûrement pas apprécié par les riverains !
Il y aura un gros problème pendant  la durée du chantier (deux ans): le stationnement à Montroc.  C’est une réelle inquiétude pour les  résidents et riverains. La place de la gare sera encombrée par des engins de chantiers, par les voitures des ouvriers, en plus du local technique  du chantier qui doit être construit là! Seule solution pour les habitants: le parking de la ferme Mugnier. Mais c'est là que RFF voulait construire la centrale à béton!!! Eric Fournier leur a demandé "d’envisager un autre lieu pour leur centrale!". A Argentière? Rien n’est décidé.
L’idée d’aller acheter du béton à la centrale de Trient a été récusée : cela représenterait trop de transports trop polluants.
Il y a un autre problème côté Buet : le passage d’accès au tunnel sous le pont-rail est très étroit, les engins de déneigement ou de sécurité ne peuvent l’emprunter. Le Conseil Général promet qu’il l’élargira à 5m... un jour... Mais attention ! Il y a là sur le talus une fougère très rare, Selginella helvetica, qu’il faut préserver à tout prix !
On disposera donc, dans deux ans, d'un tunnel modernisé autorisant beaucoup plus de passages, mais la sécurisation de l’itinéraire n’en est pas pour autant garantie à 100% : la protection contre les avalanches de la  FIS et du Nant côté Argentière, contre celles de Praz-Torrent et des Posettes  côté Buet n’est toujours pas résolue.
Le coût de ce chantier du tunnel  des Montets s’élève à  23 millions d’euros.

Traduction Francais Anglais

A public meeting was held in Argentière on 12th March 2012. The councillors who side with me (ie the opposition) were not invited. In any case, we have never been invited to any meetings in Argentière. Perhaps the organisers think that we're just not interested. The opposite is true. The opposition councillors feel very much akin to the people who live at the top of the valley.
I found out about this meeting at the last minute, entirely by chance.

The hall was jam-packed. The mayor, Eric Fournier made a rapid introduction, then an engineer from RFF made a presentation on the project.

The works will begin on 1st April. They'll pull up the rails, so there won't be any trains. The bus will link Vallorcine with Argentière. If there's heavy snow in April and the col has to shut then Vallorcine will be cut off from the rest of France.
They'll re-make the apron for cars so that it's 4m wide (2m50 at present) and the rails will be sunk into the apron like tram rails. On the left there will be a false pavement to hold the 3rd rail which supplies electricity to the train. This will be closed to pedestrians.
The use as a road will be in alternate directions, but without today's requirement to form convoys of 22 cars max and 48 people max, wearing gas masks. Access will be unmarshalled. There will be automatic barriers controlling access and keeping cars 100m apart. This will allow a lot more crossings than the existing system.
The priority is to be given to cars, so the half hourly trains are not guaranteed when the col is closed.
The tunnel walls will be insulated and waterproofed, then covered with a layer of concrete 20 cm think, to stop ice forming on the tunnel walls. This year the ice has been up to 1m50 thick and has had to be hacked off by hand every day.
Many people thought it was a shame that they hadn't gone for overhead electric wires in the tunnel. This would have been technically difficult and more expensive- the apron and rails would have had to be made lower to have enough height to do this.

On the Montroc side the entry to the tunnel for cars would be by the station forecourt, but the exit would be on the right on the Frasserands side. This means driving over the level crossing and doing a hairpin bend to rejoin the main road. Not easy. Of course people could instead drive down through Frasserands, which won't be appreciated by residents there.
There is a huge problem during the course of the works (2 years) in terms of parking at Montroc. This is a real worry for the inhabitants of the area. The station forecourt will be covered in machinery, the cars of the workers and the portacabins and buildings which the workmen will need to place there. The only solution for the residents is the parking at the "Ferme de Montroc", but the RFF want to put their cement works there. Eric Fournier asked those who were clearly worried to think of where else the cement works could possibly go. Argentière maybe? Nothing has been finalised yet.

It was suggested that the cement could come from the factory at Triente in Switzerland, but that would involve too much pollution from the traffic.
There is another problem on the Buet side- the access route to the tunnel under the railway bridge is too narrow. Snowploughs and emergency vehicles can't cross it. The Conseil Général has promised to widen it to 5m... one day.
But there is an environmental problem- there is a is a very rare plant on the embankment there, Selginella helvetica (Fougeres), which must be preserved at all costs.
One can imagine that in two years time there will be a modernised tunnel capable of carrying a lot more traffic, but the safety of the route is by no means 100% guaranteed. The protection against avalanches at la FIS and les Nants on the Argentière side, and the avalanches of Praz-Torrent and Posettes on the Buet side have not been addressed.
The cost of the tunnel works has now risen to 23 million euros.
21 mars 2012 07:09
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7 commentaires:

Anonyme a dit…

Traduction Francais Anglais

A public meeting was held in Argentière on 12th March 2012. The councillors who side with me (ie the opposition) were not invited. In any case, we have never been invited to any meetings in Argentière. Perhaps the organisers think that we're just not interested. The opposite is true. The opposition councillors feel very much akin to the people who live at the top of the valley.
I found out about this meeting at the last minute, entirely by chance.

The hall was jam-packed. The mayor, Eric Fournier made a rapid introduction, then an engineer from RFF made a presentation on the project.

The works will begin on 1st April. They'll pull up the rails, so there won't be any trains. The bus will link Vallorcine with Argentière. If there's heavy snow in April and the col has to shut then Vallorcine will be cut off from the rest of France.
They'll re-make the apron for cars so that it's 4m wide (2m50 at present) and the rails will be sunk into the apron like tram rails. On the left there will be a false pavement to hold the 3rd rail which supplies electricity to the train. This will be closed to pedestrians.
The use as a road will be in alternate directions, but without today's requirement to form convoys of 22 cars max and 48 people max, wearing gas masks. Access will be unmarshalled. There will be automatic barriers controlling access and keeping cars 100m apart. This will allow a lot more crossings than the existing system.
The priority is to be given to cars, so the half hourly trains are not guaranteed when the col is closed.
The tunnel walls will be insulated and waterproofed, then covered with a layer of concrete 20 cm think, to stop ice forming on the tunnel walls. This year the ice has been up to 1m50 thick and has had to be hacked off by hand every day.
Many people thought it was a shame that they hadn't gone for overhead electric wires in the tunnel. This would have been technically difficult and more expensive- the apron and rails would have had to be made lower to have enough height to do this.

On the Montroc side the entry to the tunnel for cars would be by the station forecourt, but the exit would be on the right on the Frasserands side. This means driving over the level crossing and doing a hairpin bend to rejoin the main road. Not easy. Of course people could instead drive down through Frasserands, which won't be appreciated by residents there.
There is a huge problem during the course of the works (2 years) in terms of parking at Montroc. This is a real worry for the inhabitants of the area. The station forecourt will be covered in machinery, the cars of the workers and the portacabins and buildings which the workmen will need to place there. The only solution for the residents is the parking at the "Ferme de Montroc", but the RFF want to put their cement works there. Eric Fournier asked those who were clearly worried to think of where else the cement works could possibly go. Argentière maybe? Nothing has been finalised yet.

It was suggested that the cement could come from the factory at Triente in Switzerland, but that would involve too much pollution from the traffic.
There is another problem on the Buet side- the access route to the tunnel under the railway bridge is too narrow. Snowploughs and emergency vehicles can't cross it. The Conseil Général has promised to widen it to 5m... one day.
But there is an environmental problem- there is a is a very rare plant on the embankment there, Selginella helvetica (Fougeres), which must be preserved at all costs.
One can imagine that in two years time there will be a modernised tunnel capable of carrying a lot more traffic, but the safety of the route is by no means 100% guaranteed. The protection against avalanches at la FIS and les Nants on the Argentière side, and the avalanches of Praz-Torrent and Posettes on the Buet side have not been addressed.
The cost of the tunnel works has now risen to 23 million euros.

Anonyme a dit…

You sound like a fun guy. Are you looking for a good time in Argentiere? I like to hang out with like-mided guys.

Anonyme a dit…

Correction. It should be
Selaginella helvetica,
not Selginella helvetica.

BTW The English name is "Swiss Clubmoss"

Tim Ward a dit…

Dear Mr Lasserre

As you may remember from previous corresondence I was also at the tunnel des montets meeting on 13-3-2012.
I recall hearing the mayor say that most of the 23m cost of the tunnel upgrade (€16m I think) would go to compensate the railways for cars having priority over trains in their tunnel when the col de Montets is shut. Only €7m would actually be spent on the works.

I think that we've all been politically out-manoeuvred here in a very undemocratic way, though I do have a small amount of grudging admiration for that.

This work has been reported many times as being on the verge of being cancelled over the last year or so.
That was a smart move- how can you argue against something that's already been cancelled?
Besides, the work on the train tunnel to make it better for trains is an excellent idea and well overdue.

In my opinion though, continuing to share the train tunnel with cars is absolute madness, but we have never had a chance to argue against this and for a proper solution instead.
Again, my opinion (although it is one that is shared) is that what we really need is a tunnel from le Chosalets to Vallorcine.
Has this option been costed?

Several people have told me that they thought that was what the project, now discontinued, to build paravalanches at les Nants and la Fis was about.


Do you agree that continued dual rail/road use of the tunnel des montets is a bad idea?
If you agree do you have any ideas for initiating a public debate?

There is a lot of bad feeling in the english speaking community of chamonix about the lack of debate on the tunnel des montets project and perhaps you could usefully turn some of this bad feeling into votes.

I will follow this post with a french translation as soon as I can organise one.

Good luck

Tim Ward

JPM a dit…

La voiture prioritaire face au train : nous voila revenu au grand âge d'or de l'automobile ! Foin de l'écologie, bétonnons et faisons passer les voitures au coeur des villages de Montroc et des Frasserands.
Et que se passera-t-il si une voiture tombe en panne dans ce tunnel à une voie ? ou pire si elle prend feu ? Une telle longueur de tunnel devrait imposer un contre-tunnel de sécurité car il n'y a pas d'échappatoire pour les gens bloqués au centre.
Ce projet me parait un bricolage dangereux. Il eut mieux valu prévoir de renforcer le trafic ferroviaire quand le col est fermé, voire prévoir une navette train-auto en circulation entre Montroc et le Buet.

Tim Ward a dit…

Peut-etre que vous vous souveniez de ma correspondance precedente, j'ai assiste a la seance concernant les travaux du tunnel des Montets le 13-3-12.

Je me souviens, si je l'ai bien compris, que le maire a dit que la plupart des 23 million du coût des travaux ( 16 million, je crois) serait des frais d'indemnisation a SNCF a cause des voitures ayant la preseance sur les trains quand le Col des Montets est ferme. On ne depense que 7 million sur les travaux eux-mêmes.


Je crois qu'on nous a dejoue le plan politiquement ici dans un sens tres anti-democratique, bien que je les admire un peu contrecoeur.


On a mentionne ces travaux plusieurs fois pendant l'annee derniere comme etant sur le point d'etre annules. C'est un bon manoeuvre, on ne peut pas disputer contre quelque chose qui est deja annule.
En plus, les travaux pour ameliorer le tunnel sont une excellente idee même si bien en retard.


Neamoins, a mon avis, continuant le partage des voitoires et des trains dans le tunnel est une grande folie, mais nous n'avons jamais eu l'occasion de disputer contre cette idee et pour une solution raisonnable.
Encore une fois, a mon avis (mais je ne suis pas le seul a en penser) ce qu'il faut est la construction d'un tunnel des Chosalets a Vallorcine.
Est-ce que on a jamais evalue un tel cout?
Plusieurs gens m'ont dit qu'ils ont pense que le projet maintenant resilie pour securiser le RN506 aurait fait exactement ca.


Est-ce que vous reconnaissez, vous aussi, que continuer a utiliser le Tunnel des Montets pour les voitures et les trains n'est pas une bonne idee?

Si vous vous accorde, avez-vous aucunes idees pour lancer un debat publique?


Il existe beaucoup de mauvais sentiment parmi les anglais qui vivent ici au sujet du manque du debat sur ces travaux aux Tunnel des Montets et peut-être vous pouvez l'utiliser pour gagner des votes.


Ceci est une traduction française d'un blogging anglais.


Bonne chance

Tim Ward (anglais, habitant Argentiere, inscrit pour voter)

Anonyme a dit…

There is a meeting at the Salle Bicentenielle tonight at 18-30pm about the development of the railways