TGV Bordeaux-Toulouse: financing finally on track
Posted 20 Feb. 2022 at 12:05
The epilogue of a 30-year-old soap opera? The financing of the high-speed line (LGV) Bordeaux-Toulouse, which should put in 2030 the fourth city of France three hours from Paris, against four currently, has been largely completed, according to the prefecture of Occitanie.
A file on which Prime Minister Jean Castex himself stepped up to the plate last April to confirm the State’s commitment and put the local authorities face to face with their responsibilities, while the President of the Republic himself in September , on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the hexagonal TGV, asked the SNCF to prepare for the post-Covid period and a new phase of rail development.
“The 24 local authorities validated the entire financing plan. The financing company will be able to be created, ”said the prefecture on Saturday. The creation of this company must take place before April 23, the date set by the mobility orientation law (LOM), recalled the prefect coordinator of the project and the prefect of Occitanie Etienne Guyot.
Green lights
According to the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, this financing plan – very localized by elected environmentalists and a dozen environmental associations opposed to the project from the start and preferring a redevelopment of the current line – must be sent on February 22 to the Council of State, before a review by the Council of Ministers in March.
“From now on, all the lights are green to make concrete progress towards the creation of the project company by April, with a view to starting work in 2024 as the Prime Minister has just committed to it”, judged Saturday the president of the Occitanie region, Carole Delga.
State-local authorities-Europe funding
The cost of the LGV project amounts to 14.3 billion euros, with funding provided for 40% by the State, 40% by local authorities in Occitania and New Aquitaine and 20% by the European Union.
If the communities of Occitania had quickly agreed to raise 2.2 billion euros in net contributions, those of New Aquitaine were slow to raise the 1.7 billion euros requested.
At the beginning of February, the region had released an additional contribution of 225.6 million euros to compensate for the refusals of the Basque Country urban community and the departments of Lot-et-Garonne and Gironde to contribute their contribution, while the Pyrénées-Atlantiques and the agglomeration of Dax engaged a lower participation than expected.
Paris-Toulouse in three hours
Currently, the Paris-Bordeaux (550 km) by TGV takes two hours, as does the Bordeaux-Toulouse journey (240 km), which would be halved with the extension of the LGV.
The second phase of the Grand Sud-Ouest project (GPSO) provides for an extension of the LGV line from the south of the Gironde to Dax. On February 16, the agglomeration of Dax was the last to decide to co-finance the project. Its elected officials validated a participation of 12.8 million euros, 10 million less than what was asked of them.