“We must put Paris less than 2 hours from Nantes, whatever the technical solution chosen”, claims Christelle Morançais. The president of the Pays-de-la-Loire regional council received the boss of the SNCF, Jean-Pierre Farandou, this Friday, to discuss the major railway issues in the region. She took the opportunity to affirm her desire to see a high-speed line (LGV) completed as quickly as possible on the entire Nantes-Paris link.
Only the Paris-Sablé-sur-Sarthe portion is now high-speed and trains generally take 2h01 to 2h26 to reach the City of the Dukes and Paris (in comparison, it takes 1h50 for a Rennes-Paris LGV). The Nantes-Angers-Le Mans rail line is also one of the busiest in France and therefore very sensitive to hazards (incidents, weather, etc.).
Compensation for Notre-Dame-des-Landes
The new line project is already under study. It would cost several billion euros. Christelle Morançais therefore hopes to convince the government to invest by reminding her of the compensation promised after the abandonment of the Notre-Dame-des-Landes airport project. “Nearly 5 years after the abandonment of Notre-Dame des Landes, we cannot demand less from the government. This is essential for the attractiveness of our region”, considers the president of the Pays-de-la-Loire region.
In 2018, the government undertook, in particular, to develop the airport platform, to modernize the Nantes-Paris link, to improve the bypass of the capital, via Massy-Valenton, in order to better serve Paris airports. So many projects that have evolved little. “The President of the Republic has high ambitions in terms of transport. But it is good to remember that commitments have been made and that they must be kept. This is for me the absolute prerequisite! “, insists Christelle Morançais.
Waiting for, SNCF Network intends to respond to the saturation of the current line by modernizing all the signal boxes and setting up a new computerized signaling system between Nantes and Sablé-sur-Sarthe. Developments which should make it possible to run two trains on the same track when approaching the stations of Nantes, Angers and Sablé, and to optimize the management of traffic speeds. The very expensive project will not be completed before 2030.