Toothed giant rips through Alps despite rail link protests

Saint-Martin-la-Porte (France) (AFP) - There is a fierce nip in the air outside, but inside the temperature is almost tropical and the further you advance into the dark, the louder the noise becomes. This is the heart of the Lyon to Turin high-speed train link, where a tunnel boring machine is chomping through the earth, oblivious to the row within Italy's populist government over the project's future. Underground in Saint-Martin-La Porte, in south-east France, some 20 workers are swarming around the mechanical beast in protective helmets, boots, noise-cancelling earmuffs and goggles.