Elisabeth Borne is preparing to announce a 100 billion euro plan by 2040 for rail transport, Matignon said Thursday, February 23. A first realization of this plan will be the launch of “metropolitan RERs” in major French cities. According to the entourage of the Prime Minister, the government wants to have a precise planning of transport infrastructure investments by June, after having discussed it with the regions and partners concerned.
This amount, which corresponds to the estimate of the needs launched by the CEO of the SNCF Jean-Pierre Farandou – who envisaged this expenditure over fifteen years -, will not be entirely provided by the State, but will have to be shared by all stakeholders, communities, operators and investors, the same source said Thursday evening.
Ms. Borne must launch this “new railway deal” by receiving a report from the Infrastructure Orientation Council (COI), a college made up of elected officials and experts responsible for sorting out the various projects, both rail and road or rivers. “A historic investment for our transport!” A central contribution to the ecological transition. An essential effort for the rail network. We are up to it and there, ”reacted Transport Minister Clément Beaune on Twitter.
The government intends to base itself, among the COI proposals, on a so-called “ecological planning” scenario, according to Matignon. This moves away from the current budget framework to add investments deemed “the most relevant to facilitate modal shift (from road to public transport editor’s note) and decarbonization”.
Giving priority to the modernization of the rail network and everyday transport, the scenario also wants to emphasize the renovation of roads and waterways, but excludes the rapid realization of “structuring projects highly anticipated by some, (. ..) road or highway,” according to a near-final version published by the Context news site in January. It provides for a marked increase in the resources made available by the State, from 2023 and until 2042. The bill would be 84.3 billion euros over the period 2023-27.
In March, the government intends to launch discussions with the regions and partners concerned – in particular within the framework of the negotiations of the State-region plan contracts (CPER) – in order to have a precise planning of infrastructure investments in June. transport.
Elisabeth Borne must announce on Friday, according to those around her, “the starting point” of the metropolitan RERs, suburban connections around the large provincial agglomerations, which should not be only rail. “We are going to discuss with each region to define what the metropolitan RER will be”, then “go into the concretization”. The Société du Grand Paris (SGP), which is currently building the Grand Paris metro around the capital, will be “the pilot” of this project alongside SNCF Réseau, Matignon said.
“We will look for external sources of funding, in particular from sectors that emit more greenhouse gases in the field of transport”, according to the services of the Prime Minister. While waiting for the finalization of the programming, we should not wait for details on this or that project – high-speed lines or highways – on Friday, the same source said.
