a Paris-Toulouse line in 3 hours in 2030
The Bordeaux-Toulouse high-speed rail line (LGV) project is finally on the right track. At the end of last week, the 24 local authorities concerned in the New Aquitaine and Occitanie regions validated the financing plan for the work, amounting to €14.3 billion. These will thus participate to the tune of €5.6 billion, with the State financing 40% of this infrastructure project, the remaining 20% being donated by the European Union.
In a press release, the prefect of the Occitanie region welcomed ” the signature of this financing plan, decisive step for the creation of the Société du Grand Projet du Sud-Ouest, which must take place before April 23“, date set by the Mobility Orientation Law (LOM). Only environmental associations and elected environmentalists, including the EELV mayor of Bordeaux Pierre Hurmic, had fed against this rail project.
Save time to Toulouse, but also in Occitania and New Aquitaine
With work due to begin in 2024, this new high-speed line will, during its commissioning in 2030, to travel from the capital to the pink city in three hours, against four currently. And this, since the opening of the LGV Océane in July 2017 which reduced the Paris-Bordeaux journey time to 2h04. On this Bordeaux-Toulouse section, 240 km long and which will be completed in one hour, two new TGV stations will be built, in Agen and Montauban.
The Grand Projet du Sud-Ouest also provides for the construction of a second branch of 160 km (55 of which are shared with the first) between Bordeaux and Dax. Thus placed three hours from Paris, the Landes spa town now intends its status as a gateway for tourism, leisure and business tourism in this department which is very popular with French and foreign customers. A new SNCF station is also planned in Mont-de-Marsan. SNCF estimates that passengers will benefit from a time saving of 20 minutes on ” all connections to southern Aquitaine (Basque Country), Béarn and Bigorre (Pau, Lourdes and Tarbes) and beyond Spain“.
A connection with the Spanish high-speed network will indeed be made in Hendaye from 2028, eventually allowing TGVs to reach Bilbao in 1h55 from Bordeaux, as well as Madrid or Barcelona (3h50 from Bordeaux). Thanks to this “south-south” connection between these two branches of the future LGV, the SNCF is planning Agen-Bayonne routes in 1 hour 15 minutes, Toulouse-Bayonne in 2 hours 15 minutes and Toulouse-Bilbao in 3 hours 10 minutes. In addition, Bayonne will be accessible in 1h05 from Bordeaux and 3h15 from Paris. In the end, five million passengers per year are expected on the Bordeaux-Toulouse and Bordeaux-Dax lines as soon as it comes into service.
Companies will benefit from more sustainable mobility
Thus, with several cities located more or less 3 hours from Paris (Dax, Toulouse, Bayonne, Biarritz, etc.), the train will nibble solid market shares by air and by car from 2030, with an estimate of two million trips “flown” by plane and 7.7 million fewer trips by car at the end of the project. Bad news on the horizon for Air France which currently serves Toulouse, Pau and Biarritz. A good one, on the other hand, for the carbon footprint of companies whose employees are increasingly encouraged to favor rail for their business trips.