“It’s an investment for the future”, welcomes Jean Castex. The Prime Minister promised Sunday, December 12 the rehabilitation “all over” small railway lines, by inaugurating the railway line connecting Epinal and Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, which had been closed for three years due to dilapidation. “It’s concrete, it’s real!”, exclaimed the head of government in front of the station of Saint-Dié, before the departure of the train.
He recalled being “a great train lover and passionate about railway things”, lamented the “decades during which the State (…) considered that these service lines to the rural world were very expensive anyway”. And to recall that the underinvestment forced the trains to slow down, scaring off passengers, etc. The government intends to participate with the regions in the regeneration of 9,200 km of small lines. “It is a large-scale movement. We are doing it everywhere because we believe in it”, did he declare.
“We are spending money on the railroad”, he insisted, promising “a return on investment” for the community. He also stressed the need to have “a global policy” infrastructure, considering that the construction of roads could also sometimes be necessary. The 49 km long single-track line connecting Arques, near Epinal, to Saint-Dié had been closed since December 2018, for safety reasons due to its poor condition – dilapidated tracks and risk of two tunnels collapsing. .
This closure had made President Emmanuel Macron angry, because he had undertaken to maintain it a few months earlier during a trip to Saint-Dié. Its reopening has therefore become a national project, the 21 million euros of necessary work being covered 40% by the State and 60% by the Grand Est region. “Commitment made, commitment kept”, launched Jean Castex.
The line was used very little and was very poor before its closure, yet the frequencies will be reinforced, with direct links to Strasbourg. It will be part of the links opened to competition by the regional council, including for infrastructure. Jean Castex has also indicated that he was giving the green light to an experiment allowing the Grand Est to pay less tolls to SNCF Réseau to circulate its TER, in exchange for investments in the network.