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.
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.
