It is certainly the most sensitive of the 33 files on the agenda. The opening to competition of TER is on the menu of the plenary session of the Regional Council of New Aquitaine. Outraged the concern of elected ecologists and communists, several railway unions are angry and call for a rally at 10 a.m. in front of Bordeaux station. In an attempt to reassure, the socialist president Alain Rousset ensures that the SNCF will remain until 2027 the sole operator of regional express trains.
“It is not a question of privatizing the public service”
While the agreement between SNCF and the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region ends in 2024, “we are in the process of renegotiating an over-the-counter contract with the railway company”, explains Alain Rousset.
“At the same time, French law and European law tell us that we must put in competition, not the railway infrastructures which remain totally public and State, but the operator, a bit like with the tramway in Bordeaux , will be challenged with other operators”, continues the president of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region.
Unlike the Occitanie, Bretagne and Centre-Val-de-Loire regions, the community has decided not to renew the TER agreement with the SNCF for ten years. “We would have exposed ourselves to the risk of recourse and legal disputes”, says Alain Rousset. In 2027, four lots will be open to competition: that of the former Poitou-Charentes, Périgord-Limousin, the star around Bordeaux and South-Aquitaine.
Railway workers worried…
“We are fighting for a real public service. This competition will in no way lower ticket prices”, ton Rémi Vinet, secretary of the CGT Cheminot in Bordeaux. The CGT central but also Sud-Rail, Unsa and CFDT organize a gathering this Monday morning (10 a.m.) on the forecourt of the Saint-Jean station in Bordeaux to protest against this announced opening to competition from TER.
“For us, already railway workers, that means transferring personnel to competitors. If these operators ever win the contract, everything will also change for users, particularly with regard to connections, ticket sales. It will be a big , big deterioration in public service. And when you see what is happening with energy and all that, public service, we have it, we need it. We need public service in energy, in the hospitals and including in the railways”.
The elected ecologists and communists also…
In a press release, the communist group at the Regional Council of New Aquitaine supports the railway workers mobilized against the opening to competition of TERs. “We are very angry because users risk seeing the price of their train ticket increase”adds Christine Seguinau, co-president of the EELV group on the regional council and deputy mayor of Eysines.
“Concretely, we see it in the South region since we have a line that has opened and it is more than 15% increase in the price of the ticket. And that, we do not want it because we are for a daily train at a controlled cost. And the opening up to competition will make us lose this control over the cost of the ticket.”
“It’s stupid” replies Alain Rousset
Faced with criticism from the Greens, who have been sitting in opposition since 2021, Alain Rousset does not mince his words. “That’s Stupid”replies the socialist president to his allies yesterday when the latter report an increase in ticket prices in PACA.
“It’s the opposite, I can’t understand their position, that they tell such lies. The prices will go down. Today, we have a competition that was made by the Provence region- Alpes-Côte d’Azur. You know what is happening? The SNCF has increased its services by 75% for the same price, or even for a lower price. And the other line that will be operated by Transdev? The cost is falling by half and the services double.”
The socialist president of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region also cites the example of the opening up to competition of regional express trains across the Rhine. “We have experience in Germany where prices are 30% lower both in terms of work and train circulation.”