An agreement aimed at regenerating and perpetuating 1,856 km of
"small lines"
in New Aquitaine, the largest region in France in terms of area, was signed Thursday in Bordeaux between the region and the State, for an investment involving more than 1 , 5 billion euros over ten years.
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The memorandum of understanding, signed by the Minister for Transport Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, the Minister of Territorial Cohesion Jacqueline Gourault and the PS President of Nouvelle-Aquitaine Alain Rousset, covers 21 regional network lines or
"fine service"
, non-LGV, among which Périgueux-Brive, Libourne-Bergerac-Sarlat, Morcenx-Mont-de-Marsan, Niort-Saintes, Bayonne / Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port in particular. Many
"small lines"
, subsidized,
"are not profitable as such, but are public service lines
,
"
said Jean-Baptiste Djebbari during a press briefing, stressing the need to
"regenerate the infrastructure and to have again rails, a platform, railway signaling at the level "
.
“For the record in France, the network is around 30 years old, it's 17 in Germany.
And you have small lines that are over 80 years old, ”
added the Minister.
"There is an enormous regeneration work to be done"
, in
"less than ten years"
, for his part estimated Alain Rousset, regretting that
"the railway lines have been for several decades left behind.
The state, whatever the majorities, has shifted a bit to the SNCF, which has been criticized a lot
, ”he added.
Modernize TER
Jean-Baptiste Djebbari also recalled the objective, in parallel, of a
"new generation of TER that we want to modernize towards lighter TER"
transporting more people, and tests of
"new energy modes"
, with the hydrogen train,
"tomorrow perhaps autonomous shuttles on certain sections"
.
Since February 2020, similar memoranda of understanding have been concluded with the Grand Est, Center-Val-de-Loire, Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté regions. Their principle is to perpetuate and revitalize lines requiring work over the next ten years, and to set the financial contributions of each actor, support varying from 100% by SNCF-network for lines of national interest to 100 % by the regions for lines of local or regional interest.
