The Senate on Wednesday voted against a motion presented by the 5-Star Movement seeking to stop the TAV Turin-Lyon high-speed rail-link project with 181 votes against and 110 in favour.
The 5-Star Movement is the largest party in parliament but it was outvoted by the combined forces of the League and opposition parties from the left and right.
The Upper House approved motions in favour of the project presented by centre-left Democratic Party (PD), Emma Bonino, the centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party and the rightwing Brothers of Italy (FdI) group by similar margins.
Italian Deputy Premier and Work and Economic Development Minister Luigi Di Maio, during a session in the Senate in Rome, Italy, 07 August 2019. The parliament voted on motions about the TAV Turin-Lyon high-speed rail link. EPA-EFE/ANGELO CARCONI
The TAV is one of several issues that has caused tension between the M5S and their coalition partners in the League recently.
The M5S has long been against the project on cost and environmental grounds but League leader and Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini is strongly in favour of the project. Premier Giuseppe Conte recently said it should be completed too, arguing it would cost more to abandon the project than complete it.
