The mayors of Dijon, Lyon and Nancy are calling for the reopening of the TGV line between their cities
Posted Oct 27, 2022, 12:23 PM
The abandonment of the TGV line between Nancy, Dijon and Lyon cannot be appropriate for the elected representatives of the three agglomerations. Mathieu Klein (PS), Francois Rebsamen (PS) and Grégory Doucet (EELV), respective mayors of the three cities, have just co-signed a designated letter to Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and Transport Minister Clément Beaune, in which they demand the reopening of the link.
“We saw today in an anachronistic situation where the car has become the most competitive transport solution to connect Nancy to Lyon, even though the rail infrastructure exists”, believe the three elected officials.
Train versus car
For the record, the Nancy-Lyon line was suspended in 2018 due to the saturation of the “interchange hub at Lyon Part-Dieu station”, they explained to AFP. According to the three mayors, the situation is all the more paradoxical as freight activity continues “even today” on this line. Refusing to call for “new heavy investment projects, with an uncertain timetable”, Mathieu Klein Francois Rebsamen and Gregory Doucet asks for “a fair return of the trains that circulate”.
“This rail line cannot be abandoned in favor of refocusing LGV on Paris without being felt by our fellow citizens as a profound denial of territorial realities”, they write in their letter. At the time of energy crisis and the rise of environmental concerns, the abandonment of the connection favors the use of the car. The only direct train between the city of Lorraine and Lyon takes nearly 6 hours, compared to 3h45 for a journey by road. AFP recalls that in December 2020, a report from the Directorate General for Infrastructure “already recommended the establishment of a territorial balance line between Metz and Lyon-Grenoble via Nancy and Dijon”. a project that remained a dead letter.
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