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Austria to construct fence on border to Italy as part of border controls

Xinhua, April 28, 2016 Adjust font size:

Austria is planning to construct a fence around 370-meter at the Brenner Pass on its shared border with Italy as part of border controls related to the refugee crisis, Tyrolean state police said on Wednesday.

Along with the fence, possibly to be a chain-link variety, four control points will be established along the motorway that passes through the border, and one at a separate border-crossing road nearby, ORF reported.

In addition, trains will be inspected at Steinach am Brenner, which sits further north in Austrian territory, with persons not authorized to travel in Austria to be transported back to the Brenner Pass. The authorities confirmed this will lead to "significant delays" in train traffic.

Vehicles including normal cars will be required to slow to 30 km per hour to allow for visual inspections, with those deemed to warrant further inspection to be diverted to a separate lane containing a control point.

Persons who wish to make an asylum application and have the right to do so will be taken to the state capital Innsbruck, while those who do not will be denied onward travel in Austria.

State police director in Tyrol Helmut Tomac said further details on the fence itself, and other issues relating to inspections on trains in Italian territory, and whether a repatriation to Italy is possible, still need to be confirmed with Italian officials, with meetings between interior ministers for both countries expected this week.

Also unconfirmed is when the actual border controls will come into full effect. Tomac noted that they could be implemented before or even after the border management infrastructure has been constructed. Endit