Le Figaro Bordeaux
For TER passengers in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, the situation is untenable.
On several regional lines, arriving at work on time is a utopia, as delays and cancellations accumulate.
Line 44, which connects Bordeaux to Langon in thirty minutes, is particularly criticized, and considered not at all to meet the expectations of those who depend on this means of transport on a daily basis.
This Saturday, many of them demonstrated in front of Langon station to make their demands heard.
“The objective was to report the catastrophic situation that we have been experiencing for months but also and above all to make ourselves heard by the region and the SNCF
,” explains Lisa Deloubes of the Train d’Enfer association, originally of this gathering.
It was about
“showing that users come together to act together and obtain reliability and quality of service but also compensation”
.
Around 80 people were present, including the mayor of Saint-Pierre-d'Aurillac, Stéphane Denoyelle, one of the
"Beatle mayors"
: these four city councilors had parodied the cover of the Abbey Road album to ask for the passage of the trains in their stations.
In particular, they were able to obtain from the region the establishment of an on-demand transport service.
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“Ghost trains” that never arrive
Because it's an open secret: beyond the disappearance of trains in certain stations, the quality of the regional transport service in general, and of line 44 in particular, is deteriorating and causing enormous inconvenience for users. .
“I fall asleep with
the SNCF Connect application
for fear that my TER will be deleted or canceled
,” testifies a user of line 44.
“The need for a public rail service with an ambitious policy, resources that match the needs and a real territorial network for us users”
emerged from the speeches in front of Langon station, explains Lisa Deloubes.
Starting with trains that actually exist.
On line 42, it is in fact the
“ghost trains”
that attract the ire of travelers, disappearing from the display and never arriving at the station.
A user of line 43, between Saint-Mariens-Saint-Yzan and Bordeaux, launched a petition in November, saying he was
“constantly confronted with train cancellations or unexplained delays”
.
According to him,
“the situation is simply shameful”
.
Two months earlier, another petition was launched to request
“an improvement in TER service in New Aquitaine”
.
She collected more than 1,500 signatures, asking in particular to improve their reliability,
“to make it a credible solution”
.
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Three billion euros invested by 2030
In addition to strikes, like the one planned for this Monday on the network, users also regret the absence of alternatives and compensation in the event of significant delays or cancellations.
Each day brings its share of disappointments, and it is not uncommon for passengers to travel standing up - even though they have paid for their place - who cannot afford to wait for the hypothetical passage of the next train.
Aware of this situation, the region says that new trains will be added to line 44 this year.
In July 2023, the region also announced investing three billion euros by 2030 to “
make people prefer the train
”.
On the Bordeaux-Langon line, however, travel time will be extended this year, due to the first construction sites as part of the Grand Sud-Ouest railway project (GPSO).
Development work also presented as necessary for the development of the metropolitan RER, but perceived by detractors of the GPSO as a real Trojan horse, subservient to the necessary development of daily trains to the implementation of this project which is both contested and extremely expensive (14.3 billion euros).
“What is holding back the metropolitan RER project is the crazy dream of the GPSO
,” explained the mayor of Bordeaux, Pierre Hurmic, during his wishes.
For him,
“this is what delays the metropolitan RER, and certainly not the other way around”
.
While waiting to be able to reach Toulouse in one hour from Bordeaux, the inhabitants of the department are therefore demanding better quality local services.