The government intends to open its wallet a little more for regional transport. Over five years, the State wants to devote 8.6 billion euros to it. If this objective is achieved, it will constitute an increase “of 50%” compared to the previous plan contracts signed with the regional executives, announced Tuesday the Minister Delegate for Transport, Clément Beaune.
“We are starting the discussion with the regions for the concrete implementation of the 100 billion euro plan (for rail) by 2040” promised by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, declared Clément Beaune to press headlines. regional daily, including West France, The voice of the North and the newspapers of the EBRA group. “We are increasing by 50% the annual credits devoted by the State to transport compared to previous contracts” which covered the period 2015-2022, he insisted.
Priority “given to rail and public transport”
The Minister must formally obtain the green light from the Council of Ministers, this Wednesday, to launch negotiations on these bases with local authorities – mainly the regions, but also the agglomerations for the future metropolitan RERs – in order to conclude the State plan contracts -region (CPER) over the period 2023-2027. “In previous contracts, the State put less than 50% and the regions a little more. We expect roughly the same distribution, ”noted the minister.
According to Clément Beaune, “priority is given to rail and public transport, the envelope of which increases by 90% per year”, a “virtual doubling of the effort”. For future metropolitan RERs, the envelope provided by the State is 800 million euros. He cites Strasbourg, already launched but to be improved due to malfunctions, the Lille project which is “very advanced”, and only in the West, Nantes, Rennes and Rouen. For freight, it provides 900 million. Major projects, such as the modernization of the rail network or new high-speed lines, are not included in the CPERs, and “benefit from ad hoc financing”.
“We are also increasing credits for the river, port and cycle routes. The share of the road will decline since 70% of the credits will be devoted to the train and public transport. It will therefore be necessary to be more selective on road projects,” added the Minister, according to whom “the objective is to sign all the contracts by the fall”.