the mayors of Le Havre and Rouen challenge the SNCF
The only TGV passing through Normandy will soon change its schedule, resulting in a late arrival at Marseille station. The Norman city councilors fear a drop in attendance.
A change of schedule that does not pass. This Monday, the mayors of Rouen and Le Havre wrote a letter to the CEO of SNCF Jean-Pierre Farandou, to express their concern about the new timetables soon to be applied on the only TGV line that serves Normandy: the train Le Havre-Marseille.
A departure eight hours later
Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol and Edouard Philippe question a recent decision by the SNCF which modified the schedule of the TGV also serving the cities of Rouen, Versailles, Lyon or even Avignon.
While the train leaves Le Havre every day at 7:49 a.m. today, it will leave on December 11, eight hours later, at 3:41 p.m. to arrive at Marseilles at more than 10 p.m.
The Norman city councilors consider this future timetable unsuited to the needs of the Normans and too late for people wishing to make connections afterwards.
The Normandy TGV line threatened?
In a press release, Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol fears that this decision will reduce the attendance of this TGV. Above all, the two mayors are worried that in the long term, this change will cause the outright disappearance of this TGV line, the only one present in Normandy.
“You know how much we are attached to this line. It meets real tourist expectations by depending on the Rhône and Seine valleys. It also serves economic issues, the importance of which has been reinforced by the affirmation of the Axis Seine”, underline the two Norman elected officials in their letter.
Pending the finalization of the new Paris-Normandy line, which should allow the arrival of the TGV between the capital and Normandy, Edouard Philippe and Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol call on the SNCF to maintain the TGV in their region.
“We expressly ask that this line be preserved and in non-degraded conditions. Our territory deserves it”, finished the mayor of Rouen.