Interview. Carole Delga wants a “railway Airbus” and believes that “Occitania will have a card to play”
Through Toulouse editorial staff
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Early January, Carole Delga called for the creation of a European rail gianton the model ofAirbus, international flagship of aeronautics and space, whose world headquarters are in the Pink City. In an interview given to Toulouse newsthe president (PS) of the Occitanie Region returns to this proposal to see the emergence a “Railway Airbus”. Interview.
“A dynamic like that around aeronautics in the 1970s”
News: A “Railway Airbus”, concretely, what is it?
Carol Delga: “It is an industrial project and a common destiny. I propose to launch a dynamic comparable to that initiated in the 1970s around aeronautics in Europe and France, well known in Occitania. It is a question of bringing out a leading manufacturer capable of becoming a world leader in the sector and betting on it to structure and federate an entire ecosystem, from training to production, including research and development, to engage our country and the European Union in a real railway revolution. We must run many more trains, it is undeniable in view of the climatic context. The logical next step is to produce and repair the necessary equipment. And to accompany the aging fleet towards the exit diesel trains. With a strong focus on innovation”.
I am thinking in particular of carbon-free trains such as battery-powered, hybrid or even hydrogen-powered trains, the development of which the Region supports and finances. The hydrogen train will run for the first time in France, between Montréjeau and Luchon by 2024/2025. It is a very good example of European cooperation since the motorization is designed in Tarbes for the German factories of Alstom which produces this train of the future”.
What would be the benefits of a “Railway Airbus”?
CDs: “Very clearly, we tick all the boxes: employment, innovation, training, ecological transition. We still have strong competitiveness in Europe in terms of know-how in terms of engineering and design, it’s a chance. But we must we must accelerate, reinvent ourselves, cooperate better, because competition, particularly from China, is booming. This is the price of our sovereignty”.
“I invite the government to make strong and ambitious commitments, to invest the necessary means, as of today, in our infrastructures and our industrial capacities. This is part of ecological planning. I will meet the Prime Minister very soon, j I will have the opportunity to defend this project”.
“Of course Occitania will have a card to play”
Has this idea just germinated or, on the contrary, is it the fruit of a long reflection and why not, of discussions, with other French and European actors?
CDs: “It’s not a new idea, but I believe that the time has come. Our industrialists are at the maximum of their production capacities in the current framework; they are confronted with a fratricidal war on the international markets, unlike the Chinese who have already merged their companies and thus captured the markets in the United States.The European Commission had commissioned a group of high-level experts on this subject, which submitted its report at the end of 2019. China has since acquired a first German company and we remain blissful”.
“If we do not decide today, in 10 or 15 years, we will not have enough trains to meet our climate objectives, and we will pay the price”.
Would Occitania have the capacity to accommodate this “Railway Airbus”?
CDs: “It is far too early to talk about location, it will be multiple and we do not start by opposing territories. I remind you that the issue is on a European scale. Of course Occitania will have a card to play. With Airbus and several railway flagships, such as Alstom, Safra or CAF, and a rich fabric of SMEs already structured in the Totem cluster, we have the know-how to be a driving force in this project. in Francazal could be an example to be reproduced. We are talking about the future and the long term, but the deadline for training in the professions of the future is tomorrow”.
Collected by Thibaut Calatayud, with Guillaume Laurens
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