Passengers aboard an Ile-de-France RER, January 10, 2020, in Paris (AFP / Martin BUREAU)
The project to launch the equivalent of the RER in ten major French cities is not new, but the presidential announcement on Sunday elevates to the rank of priority projects that are sometimes already underway and which promise to be long and expensive.
“The RER is not just in Paris,” argued Emmanuel Macron on Sunday in a video posted on YouTube. “It’s a great goal for the ecology, the economy, the quality of life” in cities “where there is thrombosis, too much traffic”. Setting the goal of creating ten RER outside the capital, he did not, however, put forward either a timetable or the amount of the necessary investments.
No indication either on the selected cities, but the Minister of Transport, Clément Beaune, spoke on Monday on RMC of “relatively mature projects” in Strasbourg, Lille, Bordeaux or Toulouse.
An Ile-de-France RER in Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, a suburban town located about 20 km south of Paris, on January 31, 2022 (AFP / Christophe ARCHAMBAULT)
The Infrastructure Orientation Council (COI) “is currently working to identify the projects that can be launched first. It should deliver its conclusions within a month”, announced Matignon.
Since the vote on the mobility orientation law (LOM) in 2019, around fifteen more or less advanced projects are on track.
At the time, the Minister Delegate for Transport, Elisabeth Borne, had instructed SNCF Réseau to work on the issue. Objective of these “metropolitan express services” (SEM): to offer frequent trains, at least every half hour, or even every quarter hour at peak times, all day and serving many stops.
– “Immense effort” –
A service that requires not only investments in infrastructure – signaling, modern switches -, but also in equipment – trains capable of regular acceleration and braking to multiply stops without wasting too much time.
“What is very important is the timing, that’s what makes people take public transport” and put their car in the garage, notes Bruno Gazeau, president of the National Federation of Transport Users (Fnaut ).
Metropolitan RER projects represent “a huge effort”, in particular financial, SNCF Réseau noted in 2020, pointing to the capacities of the current network, unable to accommodate such a service in metropolitan areas without major work.
An Ile-de-France RER arrives at the Gare de l’Est in Paris on December 13, 2019 (AFP / Christophe ARCHAMBAULT)
In July, the president of the SNCF, Jean-Pierre Farandou, had estimated at 100 billion euros over 15 years the investments necessary to double the share of rail in France.
It included the creation of 13 metropolitan RERs in 13 major cities, for a total of 13 billion euros. “It’s an intelligent subject, only it must be financed. For the moment, it is not financed”, remarked Bruno Gazeau.
– “A decade” –
Some metropolises are more advanced than others, such as Strasbourg which is due to launch its European Metropolitan Express Network (REME) project on December 11, with 800 additional trains each week at Strasbourg station and even 1,000 trains in September 2023.
In Bordeaux, the project concerns 300 km of lines for 54 stations, 1.2 million inhabitants and targets 38,000 travelers per day. It is a question of developing three lines crossing Bordeaux and linking, for one of them, Libourne to Arcachon.
The objective is to increase the rate of TER until 2028, with a target frequency set at half an hour. “It’s a heavy investment that requires state support and we expect the boost to be significant,” Bordeaux mayor Pierre Hurmic (EELV) told AFP.
A train from an Ile-de-France RER at Saint-Lazare station in Paris on November 10, 2022 (AFP/Bertrand GUAY)
“The overall envelope weighs nearly a billion euros with additional costs already identified”, assessed the president of Bordeaux Métropole, Alain Anziani (PS).
In Rennes, we say to ourselves “able from 2023” to offer “regulated rail offers”. “I dare to hope (…) that we are well in the ten metropolises”, reacted the vice-president of Rennes Métropole, Matthieu Theurier (EELV).
President Macron’s announcement was also “very well received” in Marseille, where “the city’s entrance highways are saturated every day” and where the rail network “is underused”, according to Audrey Gatian , Deputy Mayor (PS).
With regard to funding, the government again refers to the work of the IOC which will be delivered before Christmas. It fixes at the beginning of next year the definition of a calendar.
“Transport is investing in the future. It takes a lot of time. These famous metropolitan RERs are a horizon of a decade,” insisted Clément Beaune.
© 2022 AFP
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