Laurent Wauquiez wants to “save Lyon-Turin”. For this, the LR president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region announced on Sunday that he had made a “strong proposal” to the State for this project, in an impasse twenty-four hours before the closing of the submission of files in Brussels . “But I set my conditions”, namely an additional gesture from the State on the State-Region mobility plan contract, he said in an interview with AFP.
Last week, 40 million euros were still missing to complete the budget of 220 million euros for studies of the French route of the transalpine railway line and the railway bypass of the Lyon metropolitan area (the “CFAL-Nord”). , according to figures provided by the Minister of Ecological Transition and Transport, Christophe Béchu, before the Senate.
Wauquiez wants give and take
For the European Union to provide 90 million, France must present a financing project of 130 million on January 30. Currently, the State has promised 65 million but the round table from local authorities has only made it possible to raise 25 million euros. During the last discussions, the State had offered to take half of the missing 40 million, if the communities made an additional effort.
“Our proposal is to increase the financing of the Region to 33 million euros, that is to say to add 20 million euros,” detailed Laurent Wauquiez, which should make it possible to complete the file if the State accepts its conditions. “In return, I want the State to invest in everyday mobility” within the framework of the State-Region plan contract: “I am putting 100 million more on the table, and I am asking the State to do the same” for “ saving small railway lines, investing in greenways and securing road structures,” he added.
A controversial project
“To save Lyon-Turin, the State must respond by tomorrow […], the ball is in his court,” said Laurent Wauquiez. Otherwise, “we risk losing half of EU funding […]not to mention that this would bring down the declaration of public utility.”
Launched thirty years ago, this high-speed line project aims to reduce the transport of goods by truck across the Alps in favor of rail, with 150 km of tracks in France, 60 km in Italy and a 57 km tunnel. 5km. Its cost has been estimated at more than 26 billion euros. Its opponents denounce a “pharaonic” and “harmful” project for the environment, its supporters assure that it will participate in decarbonization by removing more than a million trucks from the roads.