Le Figaro Bordeaux
“Yes to everyday trains, no to South-West LGVs!”
This is the message from opponents of the Grand Sud-Ouest railway project (GPSO), a large-scale project which plans to connect Bordeaux to Toulouse in just an hour's journey, then Bordeaux to Spain via Dax.
A pharaonic development whose environmental impact is however decried by the detractors of the project, who are organizing a major day of mobilization this Friday in La Réole (Gironde), to make their voices heard.
The choice of La Réole is not trivial.
A Lafarge group quarry project could in fact see the light of day on more than a hundred hectares, the majority of which is agricultural land, in two communes of Réolais, Mongauzy and Bourdelles, in order to extract the gravel necessary for the production of the concrete which will be used for the GPSO construction site.
According to the LGV Desrailha collective, at the origin of this Friday's Girondin gathering,
"everything is linked"
, because the high-speed line will locally involve
"the ransacking of the plains of the Garonne"
.
The Great South-West Rail Project
Debated since 2005, the GPSO plans to facilitate trade at the local, interregional, national and international level by developing a high-speed axis between Toulouse and Bordeaux then between Bordeaux and Spain via Dax and Bayonne.
Costed at 14.3 billion euros, this monumental project benefits from the support of the European Union and the Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Occitanie regions.
Locally, however, voices are being heard to criticize its impact on ecosystems, and in particular the artificialization of thousands of hectares of agricultural land and natural spaces, as well as its cost, at a time when investments are deemed necessary. to make “daily trains” more efficient.
“Why build another line?”
In a press release, the collective recalls its opposition to the special equipment tax to which 2,340 municipalities are already subject in order to finance the GPSO, and says it refuses to see
“agricultural land plundered”
, and
“our environment and its biodiversity heavily impacted »
, while according to them,
“daily trains need to be rehabilitated and more accessible between Bordeaux, Langon, La Réole, Marmande, Agen”
.
And to wonder about the usefulness of the LGV:
“This line already exists between Bordeaux and Toulouse, why build another one?!
We hear about mobility and the future, but for whom?
This Friday in La Réole, a
“festive action”
is planned at the station at 4 p.m., before a
“musical pedestrian convoy”
to the secular association hall, where a public meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m., followed by concerts with refreshments and catering.
This day of mobilization comes a few days after the green light from the prefect of Occitanie for the launch of railway developments north of Toulouse, an essential step for this LGV project, which, despite opposition, is moving forward at breakneck speed.