Desired by some, hated by others, blocked by President Macron at the start of the five-year term, relaunched by the same in September, the future high-speed line (LGV) Bordeaux-Toulouse-Dax makes the yoyo between advances and setbacks. However, the project initiated fifteen years ago has just taken several important steps in a few days towards its realization, through the public commitment of the SNCF and the favorable vote of the metropolis of Bordeaux. But the road is likely to be still long, as the uncertainties on financing appear numerous and the oppositions braced.
But what are we talking about? The Great South-West Railway Project (GPSO), a major high-speed line project, should link Bordeaux to Toulouse on the one hand and Bordeaux to Dax (Landes) on the other hand, i.e. 327 kilometers of new tracks, which will put Paris three hours and fifteen minutes from Toulouse and Bayonne. Construction through agricultural, wine and forestry Gascony should cost a trifle of 10 billion euros (14 billion including the inflationary effects that accumulate over the years of construction).
The timing is crucial. Jean-Pierre Farandou, CEO of SNCF, spoke publicly on Wednesday November 24 in favor of the project on behalf of “The climate issue”. The preliminary preliminary design studies have been completed, giving way to the detailed preliminary design, but which cannot be launched without the certainty that the financing is complete. The project budget has been defined in broad outline: 4 billion euros will be paid by the State – funding already programmed -, 4 billion by local communities and 2 billion by the European Union (EU).
Oppositions on the Aquitaine side
But these last two points are still far from being guaranteed. And they are the subject of a standoff between the “pros” and “against”, between those who refuse to spend 30 million euros per kilometer for any infrastructure whatsoever and those who justify the investment through the economic and environmental progress it brings. The oppositions are rather concentrated on the Aquitaine side.
In the metropolis of Bordeaux, this November 25, the heated debates on joining the GPSO financing company lasted almost four hours. At the end, the metropolitan assembly said yes to a participation of the community to the tune of 354 million euros by 62 votes against 38. But the tension remains high in the assembly. Its president (Socialist Party, PS), Alain Anziani, supports the LGV, while the first vice-president, the mayor Europe Ecologie-Les Verts de Bordeaux, Pierre Hurmic, is radically against, preferring a redevelopment of existing lines.
You have 54.64% of this article to read. The rest is for subscribers only.