The association Les Amis de La Terre, supported by 8 associations, seized the administrative court of Toulouse. It calls into question the environmental authorization granted to the future third metro line. The court must examine this suspensive summary on Monday, December 5.

While the kick-off of the work of the 3rd metro line in Toulouse should be given, an interim order filed by the association Les Amis de la Terre could change the situation. Eight other associations for the defense of the environment and transport users, including 2pieds 2roues, Alternatiba, Tournefeuille Avenir Environnement, have followed in the footsteps of Friends of the Earth.

All requests for cancellation of the environmental authorization of the 3rd line of the metro. They call into question the damage to biodiversity with the displacement of several dozen protected species as well as the felling of the first trees as part of the preparatory work.

“Carried out to the detriment of the benefit of all, of sobriety, of biodiversity, of GHGs, of the urgency of transforming our modes of travel to alleviate the climate emergency, this project definitely no longer has its place, argue Friends of the Earth on their site. We say stop to unnecessary and imposed projects, this is one of them! There is an urgent need to invest first in a truly efficient global public transport system, which deserves the entire agglomeration and beyond”.

“The Environment Code strictly regulates the derogation from the ban on damage to protected species. He asks for a demonstration of the absence of an alternative solution, among other things. Or, there is another project that would have made it possible to achieve the same objectives as those targeted by the prefect, without affecting the 78 protected species referred to in the decree. This alternative to the project consists in the realization of a “railway star”.

The Friends of the Earth association is taking over the project led by “Let’s Relight the Star” namely the development of RER clocked from the existing rail network, every 30 minutes from 5am to 10pm. All crossing the Toulouse conurbation from north to south and distributed from east to west. The Friends of the Earth argument is also based on “an inaccuracy of the impact study with regard to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions” regarding infrastructure.

Remember that the 3rd metro line, called Toulouse Aerospace Express (TAE), should connect Colomiers to Labège. It is 27 kilometers long, which is the distance reduced by lines A and B. The objective displayed by its initiator, the president of the metropolis Jean-Luc Moudenc, is to make it an economic artery of Greater Toulouse.

It would indeed link the economic poles of aeronautics, space and research. In concrete terms, it is intended to irrigate employment areas and improve traffic flow from Airbus Colomiers in the northwest to Airbus Defense and Space in the south.

The site should be officially started on December 15… Unless the appeal filed by the associations is suspended from its start. A demonstration takes place this Monday, December 5 in the morning in front of the administrative court of Toulouse. The suspensive summary must be examined in the afternoon.