Railcoop reporte encore le lancement de la ligne ferroviaire Bordeaux-Lyon
Scheduled for December 2022, after having already been postponed for six months, the opening of the Bordeaux-Lyon railway line has been postponed again. The Railcoop cooperative evokes difficulties of financing and availability of frames.
False start for the reopening of the Bordeaux-Lyon railway line, initiated by the Railcoop cooperative. In a press release published on March 30, the latter announced the report on the launch of its first passenger line between Bordeaux and Lyon. The reasons for this delay: the finalization of the round table to complete the financing plan and the unavailability of railway rolling stock.
“Driven by a very strong civic dynamic, Railcoop nevertheless observes today that banking and financial players are struggling to get involved, including players who claim to support the emergence of new economic models and the development of rural territories, faced with to a promising but nascent market,” the statement said.
Delay in the financing plan
Alexandra Debaisieux, Deputy CEO of Railcoop, does not hide her “disappointment” at the “cautiousness” of certain banking and financial players:
“The banks had told us that they were ready to commit if we were able to raise half of the total amount in equity. To date, we have raised 7 million euros in equity and we are still in discussion with partners. But the banks remain hesitant, in particular for questions of risk assessment on a market which is opening up. »
The financing plan revealed at 30 million euros could be updated due to the shift in the opening of the line:
“The delay will require a little more money, because in the meantime we must continue to pay salaries. But to date, we have no precise figure to advance, nor a new launch date. »
First freight line brought
On the side of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region, which operates the regional network and has “always seen with a good eye this SSE project” the Railcoop project, we welcome the news of the postponement with “surprise”. Renaud Lagrave is Vice-President of the Region in charge of Transport:
“We had stalled with Railcoop the timetables for next December, we were not informed of the difficulties encountered in financing. We are not authorized to enter the capital of a cooperative society, and we have an agreement with the SNCF. Also, we cannot join a company that could perhaps respond to our call for tenders tomorrow, it is legally incompatible. »
The cooperative, which today employs 33 people and has 12,000 members, had already announced the launch of its line, initially scheduled for June 26, 2022. Railcoop had not obtained the train paths from SNCF Réseau, infrastructure manager. While waiting for the first passenger line, Railcoop has already taken charge of its freight service between Figeac and Toulouse in November 2021.
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