The announcement did not fall on deaf ears. In November, Emmanuel Macron announced that he wanted to accelerate the creation of regional express networks in major French cities. Five months later, the Hauts-de-France region is reviving a project that it launched eight years ago, during the time of the former president (PS), Daniel Percheron.
Through an open letter addressed to the Prime Minister, the president (LR) of Hauts-de-France, Xavier Bertrand, and Damien Castelain, president (DVD) of the metropolis of Lille, claim state aid for this project. railway estimated at eight billion euros. In 2015, when the project was initially presented, the Region estimated its cost at 2.1 billion. A number that 20 minutes had, at the time, been considered vastly underestimated. The elected officials therefore seem to have come to their senses.
Increase rail timing
What is this project about? The mail of the two elected officials delivers some details. This is a metropolitan express service (SEM) around the Lille railway hub, aimed at connecting all the regional hubs. In concrete terms, the region and the metropolis of Lille hope to increase the rail timetable between 5 a.m. and 11 p.m., by reinforcing it at rush hour, around Lille. It would also be a question of “developing the airport connection to Lille-Lesquin and the cross-border link to Belgium”.
“This rail supply shock can only be achieved at the cost of heavy infrastructure investments”, specify the two elected officials. With, in sight, the construction of a new crossing station in Lille and a new line between Lille and Hénin-Beaumont, but also numerous developments to increase the capacity of the existing network. “It goes without saying that local authorities alone cannot assume all of the costs (…). This is why the financial contributions of the State and the European Union will be decisive”. Emmanuel Macron had promised to put 100 billion on the table for all metropolitan RER projects.