Col du Fréjus

The Fréjus Rail Tunnel (also called Mont Cenis Tunnel) is a rail tunnel of 13.7 km (8.5 mi) length in the European Alps, carrying the Turin–Modane railway through Mont Cenis to an end-on connection with the Culoz–Modane railway and linking Bardonecchia in Italy to Modane in France. Its mean altitude is 1,123 metres (3,684 ft) and it passes beneath the Pointe du Fréjus (2,932 metres (9,619 ft)) and the Col du Fréjus (2,542 metres (8,340 ft)). Headed by the Savoyard civil engineer Germain Sommeiller, construction of the tunnel commenced during August 1857, at a time when both ends of the future tunnel were in the Kingdom of Sardinia. From the onset, the tunnel was an ambitious engineering challenge, its gallery being twice the length of any tunnel previously constructed. Some figures believed that it would take as many as 40 years to complete; the total construction time was 13 years, the work having been greatly accelerated by the introduction of new technologies such as pneumatic drilling machines and dynamite. On 17 September 1871, the Fréjus Tunnel was opened to traffic for the first time, facilitating a new era of interaction between France and Italy. The Fréjus tunnel remains an important link in the connection between Rome and Paris, via Turin and Chambéry. Following the development of car and truck transportation, the Fréjus Road Tunnel was built along the same path from 1974 to 1980. During the 2000s, the Fréjus Rail Tunnel underwent a series of works to modernise and improve it, including the increase of its bore to accommodate wider rail vehicles, such as container trucks on piggy-back wagons, as part of the Autoroute Ferroviaire Alpine. A future high-speed rail tunnel to improve transit capacity between France and Italy, called the Mont d'Ambin Base Tunnel, is being planned as part of the Turin–Lyon high-speed railway project.

The Fréjus Road Tunnel is a tunnel that connects France and Italy. It runs under Col du Fréjus in the Cottian Alps between Modane in France and Bardonecchia in Italy. It is one of the major trans-Alpine transport routes between France and Italy being used for 80% of the commercial road traffic. Construction of the 13 km (8.1 mi) long tunnel started in 1974, and it came into service on 12 July 1980, leading to the closure of the motorail shuttle service in the Fréjus rail tunnel. It cost 2 billion francs (equivalent to €700 million at 2005 prices). It is the thirteenth longest road tunnel in the world. The French section is managed by the French company SFTRF, and the Italian section by the Italian company SITAF. (The French politician Pierre Dumas was chairman of SFTRF from 1962 to 1989). The tunnel can be reached from the Italian side by the A32 Torino-Bardonecchia motorway, or by SS335 from Oulx, which joins SS24 (“del Monginevro”), and reaches Bardonecchia after 20 km (12 mi). From the French side, it can be reached by the A43 (“l’Autoroute de la Maurienne”) from Lyon and Chambéry. A toll is charged to all traffic. Over 20 million vehicles passed through the tunnel during the first 20 years.

The Punta Nera is a mountain of Savoie (France) and of the Province of Turin (Italy). It lies in the Cottian Alps range. It has an elevation of 3,047 metres above sea level.

Le Grand Argentier is a mountain of Savoie (France). It lies in the Cottian Alps range (or in the Massif des Cerces, according to French alpinistic literature) at an elevation of 3,042 metres (9,980 ft) above sea level.

The Colle della Rho (in Italian) or Col de la Roue (in French) is a mountain col at 2,541 metres (8,337 ft), at the border between the massif des Cerces and the Cottian Alps.

Punta Bagnà (in Italian) or Cime du Grand Vallon (in French) is a mountain of Savoie, France and of the Province of Turin, Italy. It lies in the Cottian Alps range. It has an elevation of 3,129 metres above sea level.

Pointe de Paumont (in French) or Cima del Vallone (in Italian) is a mountain of Savoie, France and of the Province of Turin, Italy. It lies in the Cottian Alps range. It has an elevation of 3,171 metres above sea level.

Rocca Bernauda (French: Roche Bernaude) is a mountain of the Alps of 3,222 metres (10,571 ft). It has been the westernmost point of Italy since the cession of Valle Stretta (Vallée Étroite) at the Paris Peace Treaties of 1947. It is in the Cottian Alps close to Bardonecchia between the Susa Valley, Durance and Maurienne Valley With the Arc River. Geologically, it has quartzites and gneiss, especially at the peak.

Bardonecchia railway station (Italian: Stazione di Bardonecchia) serves the town and comune of Bardonecchia, in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy. The station is a through station of the Turin-Modane railway. The train services are operated by Trenitalia and SNCF. Since 2012 it has served line SFM3, part of the Turin metropolitan railway service.

Trampolino al campo Smith was a K40 ski jumping hill located in Bardonecchia, Italy.

The Grande Traversée des Alpes (GTA) is a long-distance hiking trail in the French Alps, connecting Thonon-les-Bains on Lake Geneva with Nice. It constitutes the southernmost part of the Sentier de Grande Randonnée GR5.The GTA was created in the beginning of the 1970s. It was soon imitated in Italy, where another GTA, the Grande Traversata delle Alpi was created. The Via Alpina uses some legs of both the French and the Italian GTA. The Grande Traversée des Alpes (GTA) is also the name of the association which manages the GTA trail as well as the French part of the Via Alpina and other projects in sustainable, interregional mountain tourism in the French Alps, located in Grenoble.

Refuge du Mont Thabor is a refuge in the Alps.