Auch: the Agglo votes for participation in the Bordeaux-Toulouse LGV
During the Grand Auch Cœur de Gascogne community council on Tuesday, December 14, elected officials voted for the agglomeration’s participation in the Bordeaux-Toulouse LGV project for 1.8 million euros.
“The large southwest rail project is an opportunity for our department and for the agglomeration,” said Pascal Mercier, president of the community of municipalities Grand Auch Coeur de Gascogne on Tuesday, December 14, during the community council. For the last meeting of the year, the elected representatives speak on the participation of the agglomeration in the financing of the large southwest rail project (GPSO), which provides for the construction of new high-speed lines on the Bordeaux-axes. Toulouse and Bordeaux-Spain.
“In addition to the obvious time saving to reach Paris (Agen would be 2 h 30 by TGV from the capital, Editor’s note), there is also an ecological added value, presents Pascal Mercier before the vote. A TGV trip from Toulouse in Paris represents 4 kg of CO2 per person against 130 kg by plane and 40 kg by car “. For the president, this high-speed line also allows Toulouse, and consequently the agglomeration, to maintain its attractiveness.
The Bordeaux-Toulouse LGV project is estimated at 10 billion euros, including four billion from the State, two from Europe and two from the Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Occitanie regions. The remaining two billion are the responsibility of local communities. The departmental council of Gers has already announced, during its session on December 10, that it would participate to the tune of 14 million euros.
A total investment of 2.5 million euros
For the urban community, the participation will therefore amount to 1.8 million euros for the first stage, the new Bordeaux-Toulouse line, and 0.7 million euros for the second, the South line. Gironde-Dax. A financing plan that commits the community of municipalities over 40 years.
And if the participation of the agglomeration in the GPSO is adopted this Tuesday evening, it is still questioned by several elected officials, including Rui Oliveira-Santos, vice-president in charge of transport and mobility: “The rail is an imperative and essential solution for the opening up of the department, recognizes the elected ecologist. But we think that this project is useless and ruinous. The priority lies mainly in the reinforcement of the proximity lines “. The Auch-Toulouse and Auch-Agen lines have been at the heart of the debates several times, with a clear desire to remain mobilizing on these issues. Elected officials are notably asking for the rehabilitation of the railway line between Auch and Agen, in order to allow freight – which should arrive from 2023 – and to go to Lot-et-Garonne by the regional train.
RN 21: a wish for the deviation
The community council adopted a wish asking the State to give a favorable follow-up to the project of the deviation of the RN 21. The elected representatives reminded the importance of this deviation Auch-Pavie: “This request is based on four essential motivations: improve the quality of life of the 25,000 inhabitants of Auch and Pavia; open up the southern part of the department […] ; bring the Gers closer to Lot-et-Garonne and the Hautes-Pyrénées […] ; initiate the ecological transition by promoting urban pollution, by optimizing the practice of environmentally friendly transport as well as the use of public transport “.