Regional authorities in Savoie said the rockslide occurred at 5.15 pm on Sunday, when "boulders with a total volume of 700 cubic metres" slammed into a protective barrier along the RD 1006 road that leads to the Mont-Cenis pass into Italy's Susa valley.
The landslide forced the suspension of all cross-border trains on the Chambery-Turin line, as well as TER regional trains in the Maurienne valley, French rail operator SNCF said.
The Frejus tunnel connecting France and Italy under the Alps has also been closed to heavy trucks, whose drivers are being advised to use the Mont Blanc tunnel or the A8 motorway instead.
French Transport Minister Clement Beaune said a return to normal services "will require several days".
"After this massive landslide yesterday in Maurienne, our services are mobilised to restore road and rail service as quickly as possible," he said on social media.
Sunday's landslide followed "heavy rain with sizeable downhill flows, after a heatwave throughout the Alps," said Denis Roy, weather chief at Meteo France for the mountain region.
"There have always been rock falls, but there are periods more favourable than others, like this somewhat rare heatwave," said Serge Taboulot, president of the Institute for Major Risks in nearby Grenoble.
Images shared on social media showed a huge cloud of dust detaching from a cliff and plunging onto the local road that runs alongside the railway line and the motorway.
The RD 1006 road had luckily been closed half an hour before when a single block of stone fell, said Jean-Philippe Laplanche, infrastructure chief in the Savoie department.
AFP
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