After years of waiting, the first groundbreaking for the future high-speed line between Toulouse and Bordeaux should be given in early 2024, with the first trains coming into service in 2032. “If we could make it so end of 2023 would be ideal. We hope that the first trains will take this route in 2032. I remind you that if we had not taken things collectively in May, in the Mobility Orientation Law (LOM), it was marked five years later for the start of the works and the first train should have run in 2037”, recalled this Monday morning John Castex.
Traveling to Toulouse, the Prime Minister signed the financing plan for this infrastructure which should put the Pink City three hours from Paris and one hour from the Gironde capital. An important step that follows the creation on March 2 of the Société du Grand projet Sud-Ouest, which will centralize the financing of local authorities and benefit from new tax resources, in particular the Special Equipment Tax. It should generate 24 million euros per year and be paid by taxpayers subject to property taxes and housing taxes on second homes, whose property is located less than an hour from a station served by the LGV .
First stage
If the total amount of Major South West Rail Project (GPSO), which also includes the Bordeaux-Dax line, is valued at 14 billion euros, the commitment made on Monday by the State, SNCF-Réseau and 25 communities concerns a first tranche of 5.6 billion euros. The government has undertaken to fund 40%, on an equal basis with local authorities, and 20% of the amount is expected from the European Union.
This first budget will enable the construction of the railway developments in the south of Bordeaux (AFSB) and those in the north of Toulouse (AFNT) to be launched. These steps should make it possible to accelerate the deployment of the metropolitan RERs in Toulouse and Bordeaux.