The Perpignan-Figueras high-speed line, inaugurated on January 27, 2011, is part of the priority project for the trans-European transport network for southwestern Europe.
And yet a decade later, it is the least used high-speed line in Europe.
A 1.2 billion euro scandal.
44.4 km which connect France to Spain, between Perpignan and Figueras where some 3 or 4 passenger trains venture per day, a dozen or so freight trains and... no regional service, while around a hundred trains could follow one another.
On the French side, the SNCF offers up to 10 TGVs for Perpignan;
Spanish side and the operator Renfe, about fifteen AVE going every day to Figueras-Villafant.
And between the two, an abyssal void.
Launched in 2013, the Franco-Spanish Elipsos project was to bring together "
two specialists in European High Speed (...) to bring the best of their knowledge, experience and know-how to the international traveler
“, We still read on the common site developed for the occasion renfe-sncf.com.
Elipsos has totally locked the market not only to the detriment of passengers, but also of economic relations between Occitania and Catalonia.
Finally, Renfe and SNCF, which started hand in hand, have become enemy brothers – the word is weak – since the launch by SNCF of a Ouigo in Spain, between Barcelona and Madrid exactly.
Its dazzling success is viewed with a very dim view by Renfe, which does not like hunting on its land.
This is how the cooperation between the SNCF and the Renfe will end on December 31, 2022, on the pretext, advances the SNCF, of "
a lack of profitability
" of all of these destinations.
Everyone is free to
Read alsoIn Spain, Ouigo now connects Barcelona to Madrid
Passengers victims of the Franco-Spanish rail war
The high-speed line in Figueras and Perpignan where only 8 passenger trains pass per day.
Illustration Le Figaro
Ten years ago, the signing of the agreement for the operation of high-speed trains between Spain and France provided for around ten round trips per day.
SNCF offered ten interoperable TGV trains compliant with European gauge standards (able to operate on both French and Spanish lines) and Renfe offered as many AVEs.
Guillaume Pepy, then president of the SNCF, extolled the merits of this alliance – “
a coopetition
” according to his terms – supposed to destabilize the main competitor: the plane.
Fatal error !
Air France and low-cost companies like Vueling immediately offered fares that were often cheaper than the train.
In addition, the management of the stock of places operated from Spain is, in itself, a scandal.
Because if it is possible to buy a Paris-Barcelona ticket, it is impossible to acquire a Montpellier-Barcelona on the same train, this one displaying curiously "
full
".
Voluntarily, Elipsos reserves the sale of tickets for the longest routes... and above all the most expensive.
Thus, we found incredible examples – there were 40 seats left for sale on the Paris-Barcelona, but none on this same train, for the much shorter section, Perpignan-Barcelona.
And finding a place on the famous 44 km between Perpignan and Figueres is quite a feat!
Elipsos deigns to put them on sale a few days before the date at exorbitant prices.
The 44 kilometers are thus sold at the lowest price and two months in advance at €22.90.
Which makes almost one euro per minute of transport.
As if the lowest price for a Paris-Marseille was 210 euros.
A deliberately maintained shortage of supply
The novelty could come from a railway company dependent on Catalonia
Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya
.
FGC / Photo press
And unfortunately, contrary to the initial prospects, these trains did not contribute to regional development.
Impossible to make a round trip in the day between Occitania and Catalonia, as businessmen often claim.
It is therefore not the regional economic health that interests Elipsos, nor the reduction of the often congested car traffic at the entrance to the two cities and at the border crossing, but competition with the plane, whatever the current president of the SNCF, Jean-Pierre Farandou, who claims the opposite.
What will happen after December 31, 2022?
SNCF like Renfe maintain the vagueness.
The sinews of war remains the hardware that must be interoperable on both networks.
According to our latest information, SNCF has sold six trains to Ouigo Spain to enable it to continue its rapid expansion.
There would remain four trains on the French side – enough to make only two round trips per day between Paris and Barcelona.
On the Renfe side, the Spanish national company currently uses two trains which make a Marseille-Barcelona and a Lyon-Barcelona daily round trip.
But does she have other trains at her disposal?
"
Renfe is struggling to be able to operate services linking Spain with France after SNCF took the unilateral decision to disband Renfe-SNCF in cooperation in December this year.
“explains its spokesperson “
We are in the process of developing the staff and the administrative procedures to be able to operate in France.
»
The novelty could come from a railway company dependent on Catalonia
Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya
.
She is forcing, market studies in support, with the Occitanie region to set up a Toulouse-Barcelona via Narbonne several times a day.
But this new entrant, like Renfe on its Barcelona-Marseille or its Madrid-Lyon, would however have a major handicap: their tickets would not be offered for sale on SNCF Connect, even for the Franco-French sections such as a Marseille- Montpellier or a Toulouse-Perpignan.
What's more, on these same journeys, SNCF discount cards will not be taken into account.
Read alsoSNCF Connect: after the bugs, where are the fixes?
Classic trains: Kafka is there
As for the trains of the classic line, they do not escape the Kafkaesque puzzle.
Between Cerbère in France, and the Port-Bou terminus station in Spain, there are only two small kilometers.
ADIF, the Spanish network manager, now requires French drivers to speak Spanish to travel these few hundred meters.
Thus, the night train which went to Port-Bou and allowed passengers to continue with a Spanish regional train, is now stopped at Cerbère.
Travelers are then invited to take their luggage and manage to reach Spain.
The SNCF has just announced that the Intercités trains would not escape the rule.
There are still the TERs, which continue to circulate, while waiting for the Spanish ax.
On the Atlantic side, same problem, the TGVs can no longer go to
As for the continuation of the TGV line between Montpellier and Perpignan, it has been postponed to the year... 2040. "
In 1990, in my city of Montpellier, I was a schoolboy
," says Michael Delafosse, mayor (PS) of Montpellier and President of Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole.
President Mitterrand and Felipe Gonzalez, who both embody the opening of Europe, have announced the creation of a Paris-Madrid high-speed line.
Our Spanish friends have fulfilled their part of the contract
(the high-speed line exists from the Spanish border to Madrid, editor's note).
On our side, we explain to them that we will have to wait until 2040. Kafka is therefore today the main challenge for our country
.
»