It was the last big obstacle to overcome to give the green light to the future LGV line between Bordeaux and Toulouse.
The Council of State has just rejected the request for cancellation of the declaration of public utility (DUP) demanded by a group of opponents of this high-speed line.
A line which should make it possible to connect Toulouse to Paris via Bordeaux in just over three hours against 4:10, currently.
This project was declared of public utility in 2016. But a collective of associations, elected officials and communities of Gironde and Lot-et-Garonne opposed to the project south of Bordeaux had contested the merits of the route, in particular the section linking the Bègles station to that of Saint-Médard d'Eyrans.
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On the financing side, the State has pledged to pay 4.1 billion euros for the construction of this new line between Bordeaux and Toulouse, or about 40% of the total cost of the project.
The communities - regions, departments and agglomerations of Occitanie and New Aquitaine - should share the financing of 40% of this line, the remaining 20% to be supplemented by European funds, according to the promoters of the project.
A round table bringing together the main local funders of the line is scheduled for Tuesday evening, said the New Aquitaine region.
"The decade 2020 will be the new decade of the TGV"
Recently Emmanuel Macron promised that "the 2020 decade will be the new decade of the TGV", by promising "massive investment choices" in infrastructure, including the renewal of small lines, better connection and the construction of new links.
The State has indeed committed to invest 6.5 billion euros in the Bordeaux-Toulouse, Montpellier-Perpignan and Marseille-Nice links.
These sums correspond to 40% of the planned bill, with local authorities and Europe having to provide the rest.
Emmanuel Macron also cited the Paris-Normandy, Roissy-Picardie and Lyon-Turin lines, which remain to be engaged.