What in the city of space has already covered 180 million kilometres, far more than the distance that separates us from the Sun? The very down to earth metro which now carries 200,000 passengers a day and is celebrating its thirtieth birthday on Monday. Because the students of Mirail have not always been able to reach the Capitole in 15 or 20 minutes. They took the 148, an articulated bus, as slow as it was full, and very vulnerable in the event of a strike. “It took 1 hour 30 minutes! “recalls Grégory. And then the “Brennus” tunnel boring machine (an idea to bring back to the table for line C) with his colleague “Clémence” [pour Clémence Isaure] have finished the job. And on June 26, 1993, Toulouse residents traveled for the first time to the bowels of their city.
Jean-Luc, at the time sales manager of the agency Tisseo [qui s’appelait à l’époque la Semvat] d’Esquirol, remembers very well the day when he had the difficult mission of supervising the tens of thousands of users impatient to take line A. “Under a scorching sun and with the help of the police who channeled the crowd, we distributed water and rescued some people who felt bad waiting their turn to enter the station,” he says. Vincent, who participated in the construction of the line, is still proud of it. “Sacred adventure and sacred challenge, he comments. But on the day of commissioning, seeing the amazed faces of Toulouse residents was a real delight”.
Early morning burgers and returns
Thirty years and 1.3 billion tickets validated later, according to the count unveiled by Mayor Jean-Luc Moudenc, the famous VAL brings up nostalgia. “The metro is above all about memories with my grandparents, says Rene, now in his thirties. I was 8 years old when it arrived and I remember that my grandpa and grandma, of Italian origin and who barely spoke French, brought me to pick it up: I was right in front and we went feedback. It was like a big 8, unbelievable”. Novelty has given way to habit; and like many teenagers from Toulouse in the 2000s, the A line became synonymous with Big Macs and cinema trips to UGC, then became students, returning home at daybreak after a long night spent in the square. Saint Pierre. “Very tired,” said the carousel enthusiast modestly.
And for those who are surprised that the entire War Memorial is moved on wheels (on August 31) to build Line C, there is a precedent in terms of improbable technical prowess. Tisséo reminds us that the ground had to be frozen 150 meters long to build the “Marengo-SNCF” station and run the line under the Canal du Midi. “Wells have been set up around which freezing tubes have been installed. Along the future tunnel, refrigeration units produced brine at -30°C which was injected into the ground. A shell of ice formed at the location of the tunnel and allowed digging of the line by controlling the sealing and the solidity of the ground”.
The teleworking effect
“Cool” for some, synonymous with autonomy for others. Among our Internet users, the metro wins the match with the tram, “much too slow”. But it is not unanimous either. Jean took it for twenty-seven years. Then he got tired of it. “Over the years, the metro has become less reliable and fuller. The change from two to four cars per train has degraded the frequency”. The user of the first hour did not renew his subscription in 2002. Teleworking has been there, reducing his fuel budget. No more trains and platform doors, he drives a hybrid car.