Le Figaro Bordeaux
The project is moving forward, but its detractors still hope to be able to derail it.
As part of the Grand Sud-Ouest railway project (GPSO), the prefect of the Occitanie region has just issued an order allowing the start of the railway development site north of Toulouse (AFNT), thus marking the start of construction work of the Toulouse-Bordeaux-Dax LGV, a pharaonic project strongly contested locally.
In addition to numerous collectives, elected officials from different parties oppose the GPSO, questioning the relevance of this 14.3 billion euro project, which plans to artificialize several thousand hectares of agricultural land and natural spaces, and which according to them would not benefit local populations, who are also subject to a special equipment tax (TSE), to partly finance this project.
At the end of 2023, ten elected officials from all sides expressed their
“serious doubts”
about the creation of a third track south of Bordeaux, requesting
“independent expertise”
on
“the relevance of AFSBs”
, the railway developments south of Bordeaux. Bordeaux.
Read alsoGironde: opponents of the Bordeaux-Toulouse LGV block the work
Toulouse one hour from Bordeaux
The president of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, Alain Rousset, believes that
“our fellow citizens expect the AFNT as they expect the AFSB because these are projects which improve daily travel, improve air quality, improve the competitiveness of local businesses, reduce congestion, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reduce the feeling of assignment
.
Arguments, however, undermined by the anti-LGV.
The NON LGV 33 collective deplores
“fake news”
from Alain Rousset, recalling that the LGV is not
“decarbonized”
transport , because
“its construction will emit millions of tons of CO2”
.
The president of the Occitanie region, Carole Delga, believes for her part that
“with this LGV, we will concretely respond to the expectations of users and local stakeholders, the vast majority of whom express a need and desire for mobility”
.
The GPSO project involves bringing Toulouse closer to Bordeaux, in approximately one hour by train instead of two currently, by the 2030s, before extending the LGV between Bordeaux and Spain.
Read alsoSNCF: users exasperated by the “catastrophic situation” of TER in Gironde
“The crazy dream of GPSO”
But in the South-West, many elected officials, such as the mayors of Irun, in the Spanish Basque Country, Bayonne and Bordeaux, have been campaigning for a long time to modernize the existing outdated and congested lines, deeming the LGV too expensive , destructive of the environment and
“not credible”
.
At the beginning of February, several parliamentarians, local elected officials and associations met in Saint-Médard-d'Eyrans to organize new actions against the GPSO.
A first joint operation will consist of sending a letter
“to the more than
2,340 municipalities affected by the TSE
to inform them of the situation and invite them to join the opposition movement to the GPSO”
.
For the mayor of Bordeaux Pierre Hurmic, fiercely opposed to this project which he describes as Arlesian, the AFSB and the AFNT, presented as necessary for both the GPSO and the development of the metropolitan RER, would in reality be a kind of horse of Troy, subordinating the necessary development of daily trains to the implementation of this contested project.
“What is holding back the metropolitan RER project is the crazy dream of the GPSO,”
insisted the ecologist, during his wishes for the year 2024. A dissonant voice which will not, however, prevent the first work.