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The return of night trains, a victory for peripheral France?

2020-09-09T13:51:38.196Z


FIGAROVOX / INTERVIEW - The government has announced to relaunch night trains by reopening the Paris-Nice and Paris-Tarbes-Hendaye links by 2022. Laurent Chalard believes that this is a response from the central state to the crisis of the territories of "peripheral France".


Laurent Chalard is a geographer and works at the European Center for International Affairs.

FIGAROVOX.- Two night train lines will see the light of day again by 2022, as part of the recovery plan.

Why had night trains declined?

Laurent CHALARD.-

Several structural factors, which can be grouped into two main groups, explain the slow decline of night trains in France since their peak in terms of service to the territory in the early 1980s.

Read also:

France is trying to reconnect with night trains, which had almost disappeared

A first set of factors relates to competition between night trains and other modes of transport, including rail.

First element, often underestimated, the generalization of the private car and the development of motorway networks on a national scale have made that many households prefer this mode of transport, in particular when they go on long summer holidays, because they do not take longer than in the night train and, all in all, individual transport is more pleasant than collective transport, with the possibility of stopping where you want, when you want.

Then, the development of air transport, with the multiplication of lines and a considerable reduction in travel costs, thanks to low cost flights, have meant that in distant destinations, it is much faster and more profitable to fly than the night train (think for example of a Paris-Nice flight).

Finally,

last but not least

, in terms of rail, the general reduction in journey times across France thanks to the implementation of the TGV network has made night trains obsolete because it is now possible to return to the vast majority of French territory, at least from the capital, the main emitter pole, in travel times less than or equal to five hours, that is to say achievable during the day.

Night trains were gradually perceived as "outdated", resembling a legacy of the past, especially since they had more and more bad press, due to a certain insecurity.

A second set of factors concerns the evolution of French mentalities.

Since the 1980s, speed has established itself as a societal norm, making long journeys, in particular over distances perceived as relatively short, unattractive for a large majority of the population, in a hurry to arrive as quickly as possible on his vacation spot.

It follows that for trips that do not exceed the horizon of the French borders, our fellow citizens are no longer willing to take their time.

At the same time, in terms of comfort, the requirements of the French have greatly increased over the years, hence a lack of interest in a mode of transport where it is not possible to have toilets and an individual bathroom while the sleeping conditions leave much to be desired.

Finally, night trains were gradually perceived as "outdated", akin to a legacy of the past, especially since they had more and more bad press, due to a certain insecurity, whether it be. real or fantasized, and of obsolete material, by making the representation of our fellow citizens a transport for "poor" or even "shady" people, therefore to be avoided at all costs!

What is the meaning of this measure presented today as part of the recovery plan for the French economy?

This measure is part of a regional planning policy, which aims to both strengthen the modal share of rail, which is in poor condition, within transport (the government's desire to strengthen rail freight is part of the same perspective) and to improve accessibility to regions that are poorly or not served by the current TGV network.

If most French regions are accessible fairly quickly from the capital in a few hours, on the other hand, there are still a few “black holes” in the national rail service, making night trains potentially interesting.

These are areas located more than six hours by train from the capital, which is the case of Briançon (6 h 53 min) and Rodez (6 h 55 min), two small towns very poorly connected to the capital, where there is already an offer of night trains, and, to a lesser extent, from Tarbes (5 h 13 min) and Nice (5 h 42 min), where the State wishes to set up the two new links.

In a way, it is a response, among others, of the central state to the crisis of the territories of "Peripheral France", even if Nice does not fall into this category.

There is strong pressure from environmental movements to limit the role of the plane in transport, in particular over medium distances, where there is a substitute rail service.

Is there also an ecological issue?

The ecological issue is indeed widely put forward by the government, transport by rail being less polluting, at least in terms of greenhouse gases, than transport by air or road.

Remember, however, that trains are electric and consecutively operate in France largely on nuclear energy, which produces very dangerous radioactive waste that we do not know what to do with, so no mode of transport is perfect from an ecological point of view!

Anyway, in the context of the fight against global warming, there is strong pressure from environmental movements, through, among others, the young Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, to limit the place of the plane in transport, in particular over medium distances, where there is a substitute rail service.

The elimination of several domestic airlines by the French national company Air France, including the Orly-Bordeaux shuttle, is part of this perspective.

In this context, night trains are perceived by government authorities as one of the solutions to counter the use of airplanes, which could indeed be the case for Paris-Nice, the main French airline, even if it do not expect a significant modal shift.

What is blocking the total revival of night trains in France, with international lines?

Several elements are blocking the relaunch of night trains in France.

The first concerns the hardware.

SNCF has not invested in the field for decades, since in its mind this offer was intended to disappear altogether.

However, at the present time, the proposed offer does not correspond at all in terms of comfort to what travelers of the 21st century expect.

This therefore constitutes a definite brake.

As long as there is no effective order for new equipment with modern Austrian interior equipment, night trains will remain unattractive.

Regarding infrastructure, as for rail freight, night trains are dependent on the existing network, which is not always suitable in terms of the routes offered in relation to potential demand.

If these trains are less in a hurry than the day trains, the fact remains that if we want to develop an international offer, it must be able to use routes covered by international trains, which in terms of technique is the case only of a small minority of the hexagonal rail network, which was not thought for that.

There is also the risk of competition with rail freight, which favors overnight journeys.

It could prove difficult to run many trains at the same time on a limited and aging infrastructure, especially as the TGV lines are not accessible to night trains.

Did the pandemic influence this decision and do you think this is a viable mode of transportation?

There is no evidence that the pandemic influenced this decision, since it would seem that the revival of the railway was already in the government boxes before the start of the health crisis.

However, the latter probably accelerated the process.

The government wants to show that it is taking measures in line with environmental claims, allowing it to justify to public opinion a rail revival that is not so obvious at first.

Indeed, experts remain skeptical about the expected results compared to the announcements.

Read also:

Relaunch of rail freight: mission impossible?

Concerning the viability of night trains, at the national level, it is weak since it concerns only a few poorly served territories, especially as the creation of new LGV lines could make their relaunch obsolete, the LGV to Toulouse leading to a significant reduction in travel times to the Pyrenees, such as a possible LGV PACA to the Côte d'Azur, but which will not see the light of day for several decades.

On the other hand, concerning international journeys, it is indeed a viable mode of transport, at least for a young and low-income clientele, who could partially compete with the plane, in a general context where the latter now has very bad press. , most of our fellow citizens being encouraged to avoid this mode of transport when there is an alternative, since air transport is intended to be mainly intended for intercontinental journeys.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2020-09-09

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