The announcement came at the end of the a meeting between five ministers and local politicians opposed to the route of the link, which would run between Turin in northern Italy and Lyon in east-central France.

In recent weeks tens of thousands of people living in the Val di Susa in the Italian Alps have kept up a series of protests against the scheme, the cost of which is estimated at 12.5 billion euros (14.75 billion dollars) and which would not be completed until 2020.

"If the government is serious about carrying out an environmental impact study and therefore postponing the preliminary engineering work, we will not call any more for citizens to demonstrate against the project," said Antonio Ferrentino, president of an association representing the local communities in the valley.

"We are far from an agreement, but the news is that a dialogue has begun," he said.

The opposition to the plan has cast a shadow over the 2006 Winter Olympic games due to be held in the Italian Alps from February 10, with fears that access routes to the games' sites could be blocked.

After Saturday's meeting the Italian government promised "the launching of a special environmental impact evaluation procedure" in respect of the exploratory tunnel due to be excavated at Venaus, 60 kilometres (37 miles) from Turin.

This is due to be the starting point of 53 kilometres of tunnel through the Alps linking Italy and France.

The government said work on the exploratory tunnel would not begin until the impact assessment had been completed.

The concession may go some way to satisfying opponents of the tunnel who argue that the mountains through which it would be driven contain asbestos and uranium deposits which could endanger the health of the valley's 70,000 people.

Demonstrations against the tunnel in recent days have left dozens of people injured but Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has insisted that the project cannot be given up.

The government has blamed anarchists and far-left groups for the violence of some of the protests.

But on Saturday there were no signs of any demonstration and anti-link organisations were meeting in Turin to discuss the issue, a leading environmentalist said.

The link is a European Union priority and would bring Turin and Lyon within two hours of each other, taking freight off the roads and on to rail, as advocated by environmentalists on both sides of the border.

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