The great project of the South-West (GPSO), which consists of the creation of a high-speed line (LGV) between Bordeaux and Toulouse on the one hand, Dax on the other hand, will be invited in force to the next council de Bordeaux Métropole, on November 25 and 26. The local authority must indeed adopt its membership in a local public establishment (EPL) dedicated to the financing of the GPSO, and grant a subsidy of 350 million euros, to initiate the work of the railway plug in the south of Bordeaux, which will make it possible to double the way to accommodate the LGV, and also “to implement the metropolitan RER, one of the priorities of the new mobility plan for the Bordeaux metropolis in order to deal with traffic congestion” indicates Bordeaux Métropole.
Problem: if the left is in favor of the GPSO project, this is not the case for the Greens and the mayor of Bordeaux Pierre Hurmic, who should vote against. The right and center group, as well as LREM, will therefore play the referees in this match. “We have a metropolitan majority very divided on the subject, with an uncertain vote which may endanger the balance of the project,” worries the president of the Renouveau Bordeaux group (LREM) Thomas Cazenave, who is in favor.
It is not only in the metropolis that things get stuck, since other communities in New Aquitaine, in particular Lot-et-Garonne and Pyrénées-Atlantiques, are reluctant for the moment to pay the part that is requested of them. , which they consider excessive.
While the debates have already started in the “finance, infrastructure, mobility” committee of Bordeaux Métropole, 20 minutes takes stock of a project that has been shaking up the political sphere for weeks, especially between Occitanie and New Aquitaine.
A cost of 14 billion euros
These 14.3 billion precisely, are estimated in current euros, that is to say that it is an update of the costs of 2020 (10.4 billion euros at that time) taking into account the estimated date of the start of work (2024) and that of commissioning. The branch between Bordeaux and Toulouse, which provides for the creation of 222 km of new line and works for railway development south of Bordeaux and north of Toulouse, is now estimated at 10.3 billion euros (current), for commissioning planned for 2030. The branch to Dax, the completion of which would be postponed beyond 2037, is estimated at 4 billion euros.
Time savings of around one hour on the branch to Toulouse
The journey time between Bordeaux and Toulouse would be 1h05 in the best configuration, that is to say without stopping (against 2h01 currently), and 1h20 with two stops in Agen and Montauban. (against 2:09 currently). The best Toulouse-Paris journey time would be 3h10 (compared to 4:10 currently). The journey between Bordeaux and Dax would take 49 minutes, compared to 1h09 currently, and 1h18 between Bordeaux and Bayonne, against 1h38 currently.
A match between rural world and metropolis?
In any case, this is how the project is experienced on the side of elected officials in the south of the Gironde. Thus, even if his political family in the metropolis is in favor of the project, the mayor of La Réole (PS) Bruno Marty was one of the very first signatories of Pierre Hurmic’s call for an alternative to the LGV, and wants the spokesperson for the rural world. “The GPSO is more of a metropolitan project to link Bordeaux, Toulouse, possibly Paris, than a daily train project, he attacks. When we see the difficulties of people who go to work by train in Bordeaux, because of an aging line and insufficient timing, I say that before embarking on large-scale projects, we must do the necessary work on our network. There is a gap between this project and the reality experienced by the rural world, which once again has a feeling of abandonment. The elected representative thus demands that the famous rail traffic jam south of Bordeaux, independently of the LGV, be urgently resolved, in order to better circulate the TER, and accelerate the arrival of the metropolitan RER.
“I do not agree with this vision, retorts Thomas Cazenave (LREM). It is precisely the GPSO that will make it possible to break the rail traffic jam: the total bill for this work is almost one billion euros, it is almost impossible for the metropolis to finance alone, which means that without GPSO, there will be no Girondin RER [ou métropolitain]. “The elected LREM also believes that the LGV” will better serve Montauban, Agen, Mont-de-Marsan, Dax, which will be able to develop. And it is not the LGV against the daily trains, since the State and the region have committed to the tune of 1.5 billion euros for the TER. “
The elected representatives of the rural communes, however, fear that behind these good intentions, the credits allocated to the LGV, in particular by the region, will ultimately suck up a large part of the transport budget for the coming years.
Will the GPSO (finally) help develop rail freight?
In any case, this is the leitmotif of the president of New Aquitaine, Alain Rousset, who has been trying for years to revive the transport of goods by rail. According to him, the paths cleared by the LGV will finally put on the rails, part of the 10,000 trucks that circulate every day on the Bordeaux-Spain axis. “The rail freight argument is inadmissible, sweeps Pierre Hurmic. High-speed lines have been developed in France for more than 20 years, and French rail freight still weighs only 9% in France, while in Germany it is 23%, and the European average is 18%. “
“We have to give piggyback a chance,” Thomas Cazenave annoys, “and this involves doubling the track, because we know very well that on a single track, we will not pass the LGV, TER, and freight. When we see the situation of the Bordeaux ring road [avec les embouteillages dus aux camions], I do not understand that we do not support this project. Prime Minister Jean Castex announced on October 22 that he wanted to double the share of rail in freight transport by 2030, to reach 18%.
Are there alternatives to the LGV?
Studies have indeed been carried out concerning the renovation of the existing line between Bordeaux and Toulouse, and between Bordeaux and Dax, except that… the SNCF does not read it the same as that of Pierre Hurmic. “These alternatives consist in improving the existing lines, to run fast trains at 240-250 km / h [contre 320 km/h pour la LGV] explains the mayor of Bordeaux. Estimates vary between 4.6 and 7.3 billion euros, depending on the options selected, against 14 billion euros for the GPSO, ”he points out. Pierre Hurmic also maintains that the LGV would save only 22 minutes between Bordeaux and Toulouse compared to the track renovation project, and six minutes between Bordeaux and Dax.
SNCF is putting a big stop to this analysis, both on time savings and on costs. If we focus only on Bordeaux-Toulouse for example, we first notice that the 22-minute differential mentioned by Pierre Hurmic concerns the journey time with stops at Agen and Montauban, i.e. 1h20 with the LGV, against 1h42 with the renovation of the line. In the case of a direct connection, without stopping, the differential drops to 29 minutes between the travel time of the LGV (1h05) and the renovation of the line (1h34).
But the SNCF emphasizes above all that “because of the characteristics of the existing line (many curves and level crossings, crossing about twenty towns), even with a development of the track, it would be necessary to create 50 km of new lines (…). would therefore not be neutral, and there would also be land acquisitions – buildings and agricultural land – to be carried out ”. Thomas Cazenave adds that “the work would disrupt the existing line for years. “
As for the sums mentioned, SNCF believes that we cannot compare the estimates made during studies on the renovation of the tracks, with the current estimates of the cost of the GPSO. Thus, for Bordeaux-Toulouse only, “we would have to reduce the cost” of the creation of 222 km of high-speed line (without the railway installations to the south of Bordeaux and to the north of Toulouse, which must be carried out whatever the scenario) “to 6.3 billion euros ”compared to“ 4.9 billion euros ”for a renovation of the existing line (estimate updated in 2020 euros). The differential falls to 1.4 billion euros between the two options, according to SNCF, “for significantly lower performance. [concernant la rénovation de la voie], not allowing such a significant modal shift on the Bordeaux-Toulouse axis. “