Le Figaro Lyon
A last minute agreement was reached to release funding for studies of the French Lyon-Turin route.
The file could be presented on time in Brussels, Christophe Béchu, Minister of Ecological Transition currently in charge of Transport, announced on Monday.
This “
ambitious and global agreement was reached on January 29 with Laurent Wauquiez, the president of the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes region”
, which
“allows the European subsidy request to be unblocked”
, he indicates in a press release addressed to AFP, welcoming a
“key step in the financing of this major Franco-Italian project for the decarbonization of border transport”
.
“We are not far from the disaster, I am satisfied because all the lights are green
,” declared to AFP the LR president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, welcoming
“ a win-win agreement for everyone
.
Last week, 40 million euros were still missing to complete the budget of 220 million euros for studies of the French route of the transalpine railway line and the railway bypass of the Lyon metropolitan area (the “CFAL-Nord”). .
For the European Union to provide 90 million, Paris had to present initial funding of 130 million by Tuesday.
Read alsoLaurent Wauquiez makes an offer to the State to “save Lyon-Turin”
A project worth 26 billion... or even much more
The State had promised 65 million but the round table from local authorities only made it possible to raise 25 million euros.
During the last discussions, the State had offered to take half of the missing 40 million, if the communities made an additional effort.
Sunday evening, two days before the closing of the submission of files in Brussels, Laurent Wauquiez proposed adding the missing 20 million on condition that the State increases its investments in the plan from 100 million euros to 720 million State region on mobility.
Laurent Wauquiez says he won his case since, according to him,
“the State is increasing its investments in mobility, particularly on small railway lines, with 50 million euros more, on greenways 30 million and on maintenance works of art, 25 million
.
According to the ministry,
“the State and the Region are increasing their respective commitments by more than 70 million additional euros”
in the plan contract to bring them to 690 million each.
The agreement also concerns in the shorter term the modernization of the Paris-Clermont line, according to the same source.
Read alsoParis-Clermont-Ferrand: this cursed SNCF line, “open wound” for users and local elected officials
Supported by the European Union, the Lyon-Turin project aims to increase rail freight across the Alps, with 150 km of tracks in France, 60 km in Italy and a 57.5 km tunnel.
Its cost, constantly increasing since its launch thirty years ago, has been estimated at more than 26 billion euros in 2021. Its opponents denounce a
“pharaonic”
and
“harmful”
project for the environment, its supporters assure that it will participate in decarbonization by removing more than a million trucks from the roads in favor of rail.