188 Police, 12 HSR Protesters Injured in Italy

Around two hundred people, mainly police officers, were injured as officers clashed with masked protesters at a rally against a high-speed rail link in northern Italy Sunday, police said.

Clashes between protesters and police left at least 188 officers and about a dozen demonstrators hurt, said officials, after a small group stormed a tunnel which was part of the work site at Chiomonte, west of Turin.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/ar ... ca2205.c01

The project would reduce the travel time between Paris and Milan from 7 hours to 4 hours. The 36-mile tunnel will take 10 years to dig.

It's interesting that in Italy, as well as France, it is the far left (greens, enviro-radicals) which is mainly opposed to the building of HSR lines, the exact opposite of the situation in the U.S.- to them, HSR represents corporatism, environmental degradation, and further reliance on nuclear power for transport.

I've ridden that Paris - Milan route! Slowest TGV ride ever....it's worse than riding the Acela on Metro North through Connecticut!

In comment #8 of CA HSR blog "Is HSR a Culture War?", Andre Peretti notes that also:

It’s funny how in an HSR-mature country like France the opinion divide is the exact reverse of what you have in the US. Here, the TGV’s detractors are mostly left-wing and hardcore ecologists. Its staunchest supporters are found in the business community who think there is not enough HSR and want more lines.

Last week I listened to an interview of a CEO whose head office is in Paris. He explained that, thanks to the TGV, he could now visit the Marseille branch once or twice a week. He said the three hours spent on the train were highly productive. Even more than at his office because he and his team could really concentrate on their work, with no phones ringing and no secretary walking in. This, he said, would be unthinkable if we had to fly. Another advantage: as many in the staff no longer use their cars the company is saving a lot of money on rented parking space.

As for the detractors, their arguments could be used as pro arguments by most people.

- The far left think TGV profits are indecent. A public service should serve the people, not make money.
- The ecologists say the TGV saves no energy because it attracts far more ridership than it substracts from highways and airlines. By encouraging long-distance commuting it creates what they call “captive” ridership. They consider a Parisian who buys a house 150 km from Paris as enslaved to the TGV for life.

In fact, they hate the TGV because it consumes cheap nuclear electricity. The more high-speed lines are built, the more difficult it will be for France to phase out nuclear plants.

Yves Cochet, one of the ayatollahs of the French Eurogreens wants university research on nuclear physics totally de-funded and production of electric cars discouraged. Oil companies must be very happy. They have powerful lobbyists working for free.

Earlier, in one of the responses to comment #10 in that blog's "Shift away from driving", Al-Fakh Yugoudh responded

The funny thing is that in Italy the NoHSR movement is left wing, and the Italian right wing ditto heads (a.k.a. “Berluscones”, or Berlusconi’s cojones) are all for it in an incredible reversal of roles. Maybe you could exchange Tea Party ditto heads for Berluscones for some support among conservatives here.

When I asked why, he responded

HSR investment is profitable, commuter trains are not. Hence Trenitalia (the State owned train operator) has invested heavily in high speed (which are used primarily by business travelers, i.e. primarily the center-right) to the detriment of local commuter trains (which are used daily by the working masses, i.e. the left) which are often crowded during peak hours and not necessarily in the best conditions. There are also some environmental concerns for some new lines going through some mountain valleys.

Berlusconi likes to inagurate new HSRs because they present excellent photo ops for a politicians to show his achievements. And if he likes it, the Berluscones like them too.

At some point, I think some people favor going back to a rual village system where people don't go further than they can walk in a day. :/