Prime Minister Jean Castex has promised the relaunch of the Paris-Aurillac night train, abandoned in 2003,
"within two years"
, said the prefect of Cantal on Monday.
Read alsoBack, night trains are loss-making
The head of government had announced the reopening of this line at the end of October in front of local elected officials, but had not given a deadline.
He did so in a letter sent to elected officials on Friday, the prefect said in a statement.
A logical date could be in December 2023, when the railways change their annual timetable.
The new version of the Paris-Aurillac will be made up of three cars - one with first class berths, one in second and one seated, i.e. 170 places - which will be separated at Brive-la-Gaillarde (Corrèze) from cars heading to Rodez and Toulouse, according to the press release.
The State will finance this service within the framework of the convention of exploitation of the trains of balance of the territory (TET, or Intercités) which it must renegotiate with the SNCF.
New lines
The government recently relaunched the Paris-Nice and Paris-Lourdes night trains, as well as financing the renovation of rolling stock on the Paris-Rodez/Latour-de-Carol (Pyrénées Orientales)/Port-Bou lines (idem ) and Paris-Briançon (Hautes Alpes) which had survived the elimination of almost all of these night connections.
The Minister Delegate for Transport Jean-Baptiste Djebbari also announced in December the creation by 2030 of new lines from Paris to Albi, Bayonne (Pyrenees Atlantiques) and Saint-Sébastien (Spain), as well as from Paris to Barcelona and Paris to Toulouse, Montpellier and Marseilles.
He added the cross-connections Metz/Geneva - Nice/Barcelona/Bordeaux and Bordeaux-Nice.