LGV Bordeaux-Toulouse: Europe does not finance the project
By Writing Bordeaux
Published on
It will therefore not be necessary to rely on European funds to finance the Grand Sud-Ouest rail project (GPSO), which includes the Bordeaux-Toulouse high-speed lines and Bordeaux-Dax. It is not one of the 135 transport infrastructure projects selected to benefit from EU grants under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), we learned this Wednesday, June 29, 2022. 399 projects had been presented.
A blow for the State which had established the financing plan for the project by including this European subsidy, which provided for 20% of the amount of the operation, or 2.8 billion out of the 14 billion euros of the project.
Reduce the environmental footprint
Karima Delli, President of the Commission for the European Parliament, justified this decision this Wednesday in Lyon, on the sidelines of the annual conference of “Connecting Europe Days”:
“It seems to us that alternatives, based on the existing lines, will make it possible to greatly reduce the environmental footprint of the project and will be more useful for the daily mobility of the inhabitants. »
A position similar to that of Pierre Hurmic, mayor of Bordeaux, who has always displayed his opposition to the project: “the State must today take note that we must stop this large, useless project that destroys biodiversity”, he reacted.
“An alternative half the cost, more responsible”
In a press release, the city councilor reaffirmed his arguments in favor of modernizing existing lines: “An alternative half the price, more responsible, more realistic, more respectful of our territories. »
“This modernization requires the safeguarding of 4,830 hectares of natural, agricultural and wine-growing areas, a balanced network between our rural and urban territories, the removal of rail traffic jams north of Toulouse and south of Bordeaux, the circulation of trains at 250 km/h, between Paris and Toulouse on one side, and Paris and Spain on the other and to finally give priority to daily trains and rail freight after years of “All TGV”.
A new European call for projects for the Connecting Europe Facility will be launched in September 2022.
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