It is a first-class funeral which the mayor of Bordeaux delivered during a press conference organized this Thursday on the subject of the LGV Sud-Ouest. “The time has come to mobilize against this insane project“. By launching an appeal via the alternativLGV site, Pierre Hurmic wishes to unite the opponents of the Grand Projet du Sud-Ouest (GPSO) and defend the alternative consisting in renovating the daily trains,”which do not leave anyone at the dock “.
“It is a plan B which is in the boxes of the SNCF”
“The urgency is not to finance totally useless TGVs”
It is surprising that the LGV project, however “buried by Emmanuel Macron in 2017 “, come back to the front of the stage “a few months before the presidential election “, the mayor of Bordeaux rises against a “GPSO which would massacre 4,830 hectares of agricultural land, Sauternes vineyards, Gascony forests”. The elected ecologist denounces in passing “the billions of euros already swallowed up” in high-speed lines which have “drained our territories, to the detriment of the mesh of the regional rail network”. In order to get out of what he considers the “very high speed dogma“, Pierre Hurmic relies on”fast trains, more realistic and less expensive “.
“TGV customers are only 10% of SNCF travelers”
Affirming to rely on various surveys and report of the Court of Auditors, the elected ecologist indicates wanting to renovate the existing lines in deficit of maintenance in order to develop “the Bordeaux-Toulouse lines (SNCF / SETEC 2015 study) and Bordeaux-Hendaye (CITEC 2013 study)”. Besides the fact that it would allow the “resorption of rail traffic jams south of Bordeaux and north of Toulouse”, this alternative “would facilitate]the link with Spain and reduce our CO2 emissions”.
Billions of euros for a time saving of “only 22 minutes”
Quoting the public inquiry commission on the LGV Sud-Ouest of 2015, Pierre Hurmic recalls that “the modernization of the existing lines would amount to between 4.6 and 7.3 billion euros, compared to the 14.3 billion euros of the GPSO”.
“A single minute saved with the GPSO has a cost of around 166 million euros, which represents the creation of 300 hospital beds”
Between a Bordeaux-Toulouse TGV and a fast train traveling at 250 km / h, “the difference in travel time is only 22 minutes, and only a maximum of 6 minutes between Bordeaux and Dax” assures the mayor of Bordeaux. “Is it always imperative to try to gain a few extra minutes, no matter what?”
“[Les Toulousains] suffer, it seems, but it’s geography “
Although grateful that Occitanie participated in the financing of the LGV Paris-Bordeaux, Pierre Hurmic underlines that “Toulouse residents will always be further from Paris than the Bordelais in spite of themselves.” While the TGV would place the pink city at 3:10 from the capital, the mayor of Bordeaux estimates that “Toulouse residents will continue to take the plane”.
“We consider that a train that takes more than two hours is no longer competitive compared to the plane”
In the balance of power he wishes to engage, Pierre Hurmic is proud of the support of “many mayors of the South-Gironde” who do not want to see their village “scarred, cut in two by trains traveling at 320 km / h”. “The Gironde department is against”, adds the mayor of Bordeaux who also counts on opposition to the LGV Sud-Ouest project from the mayor of Bayonne, the Basque Country or even Lot-Et-Garonne.
“It’s not a declaration of war” to Alain Anziani
If, with this call for mobilization, Pierre Hurmic affirms that he can already count on “allies”, Alain Anziani is not one of them. The PS president of Bordeaux Métropole is indeed defending the LGV Sud-Ouest project while his environmental allies are scrapping on the contrary against the dossier. “This is not a declaration of war”, assures the mayor of Bordeaux.
The Bordeaux metropolis is planning a budget of 300 million euros for the LGV Sud-Ouest. “We will vote against “, warns Pierre Hurmic, if this investment does not exclusively concern the “resorption of the Bordeaux rail traffic jam”.
To renovate this 11 km stretch between Bordeaux and Saint-Médard d’Eyrans, “we are told that this traffic jam can only be solved through the high speed line” corn “it’s wrong, we don’t have to link the two”, explains Pierre Hurmic.