Tens of thousands rallied Saturday in Turin to protest against a high speed train project to the French city of Lyon, fiercely opposed by environmentalists, as a waste of public funds. The scheme involves construction of a 57.5 kilometre (35.7 mile) tunnel across the French and Italian Alps to cut travel time to two hours from the current four hours. The cost is estimated at $8.6 billion (7.5 billion euros) with the bill split 40 percent, 35 percent and 25 percent between the European Union, Italy and France.
The organisers claimed "a sea of some 70,000 people" had attended the rally but police did not give any estimate of numbers. The demonstrators held placards saying "No TAV", or "No high speed train", "We are against waste" and "Yes to protecting the territory and the environment".
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