SNCF Voyageurs, a subsidiary of SNCF, won this Thursday the contract for the award of the first batch of the Pays-de-la-Loire TER network that the region has chosen to open to tender to increase its rail offer.
After the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region (Marseille-Nice for Transdev, Etoile de Nice for SNCF Voyageurs) and Hauts-de-France (Etoile d’Amiens for SNCF Voyageurs), this is the fourth batch of TERs open to the competition awarded to SNCF Voyageurs.
Meeting in plenary session, the Regional Council approved by majority the two reports prepared by the region, which attribute to the subsidiary SNCF, the exploitation of a first third of the network. Left, environmentalists and RN have chosen to oppose the vote, denouncing this competition and the cost of the contract.
According to Thierry Violland, elected from the left-wing group Le Printemps des Pays-de-la-Loire, this “will only result in higher prices.”
100 million euro contract
The region had received five offers, including one offer from a subsidiary of the Caisse des dépôts et consignment (CDC) and one from a subsidiary of the RATP.
The contract, whose cost for the region amounts to 100 million euros, plans to increase the supply of trains by 26%, and after opening the other two batches to competition, by 33% by 2030. It also provides for the transfer of 377 SNCF agents to its subsidiary and the construction of a maintenance workshop (estimated cost of 40 million euros).
Before the vote, the regional president Christelle Morançais (ex-LR) recalled that the opening of the railway to competition responded to “the strategy” initiated by her majority.
“This supply shock will profoundly transform the day-to-day life of people who take the TER and will attract those who still resist taking the train,” the elected official also estimated, quoted in a press release.
32 additional trains every week
This first contract concerns the operation of the nine lines of the Aléop network, tramway-train (Nantes-Nort sur Erdre, Nantes-Chateaubriant, Nantes-Clisson) and Sur-Loire (Nantes-Pornic, Nantes-Saint Gilles Croix de Fri, Nantes -La Roche sur Yon, Les Sables-d’Olonne-Nantes, La Rochelle Nantes, Nantes-Cholet, Angers-Cholet).
With 32 additional trains every week for 196 trains currently, the region also wants to improve the possible connections with the TGV by +26%.
Source: BFM TV
