After numerous delays and delays, and despite strong opposition from environmentalists, major construction work on the high-speed rail line (LGV) between Bordeaux and Toulouse has finally begun, 30 years after it was first announced the project.
On May 7, the “first stone” of the railway development works north of Toulouse was laid with great fanfare.
This is one of the largest transport infrastructure projects in France, with a total investment of 14 billion euros financed by the State (40%), local authorities (40%) and the European Union (20%) for a total of 418 kilometers. of new lines.
A 14 billion euro project
It is also the last major LGV project in France, where the State and SNCF now want to focus on the regeneration of the secondary network.
About the program of this first phase of the works: 19 kilometers of track north of Toulouse, 12 kilometers south of Bordeaux, the construction of three stations and two stops and the installation of 1,500 catenary poles.
Finally (in 2031), thanks to this new section, Paris and Toulouse will be connected in 3 hours and 10 minutes, one hour less than currently. The line will cross five departments and will avoid the emission of 340,000 tons of CO2 per year, according to those interested. And Toulouse will be 1h05 from Bordeaux.
The Great Southwestern Railway Project (GPSO) also foresees a second phase with the construction of a section between Bordeaux and Dax, in the Landes, which will be extended towards Spain in the direction of San Sebastián and Madrid.
“Within a few years, Toulouse and Occitania will finally be connected by high speed. With Paris, on the one hand, but also with southern Europe. This infrastructure will also allow us to increase the frequency of daily trains on the Toulouse line. -Montauban axis, like an RER,” says Carole Delga, president of the Occitania region, the region that will invest the most in the project.
“As many of us demand, the evolution it represents will allow a real leap forward for daily use trains (with a metropolitan RER, editor’s note) and the development of freight transport,” adds Jean-Luc Moudenc, mayor of Toulouse and president of Toulouse. Métropole “because the number of lanes will be doubled.”
Injustice repaired or economic aberration?
Those elected emphasize the reparation of a kind of injustice: “we are the only regional capital that does not have high-speed service,” emphasizes the councilor.
It is true that this new LGV is eagerly awaited by residents and businesses in the affected areas. According to an Odoxa survey, almost 8 out of 10 French people and more than 9 out of 10 Spaniards approve of it. In addition, 10,000 direct and indirect jobs could be created.
But the project is far from unanimous. Pierre Hurmic, mayor of Bordeaux from the EELV, firmly rejects this. He denounces “a project from the past”, because the site “would occupy 4,830 hectares of natural, agricultural and forest land” and, therefore, would be in contradiction with the ecological ambitions of the State.
The “LGV Non merci” collective describes this LGV as an ecological and economic “aberration.” In particular, because part of the project will be financed by a tax on special equipment (TSE), which taxes 2,340 municipalities located less than 60 minutes by car from a future station served by TGV.
Thus, just before the inauguration of the works, 700 signs saying “Here we will pay the LGV tax for 40 years” were placed at the entrance of several of these municipalities that refuse to pay taxes.
“This is symptomatic of a disastrous situation in which municipalities go into debt to finance a project that does not interest them, while resources are lacking everywhere to finance the existing service and network,” explains the group.
Source: BFM TV
