the law on “metropolitan RER” definitively adopted in Parliament

A little over a year after Emmanuel Macron’s declaration announcing his desire to create RERs “in ten French metropolises”, the law allowing the development of these new services was definitively adopted on Monday, December 18, in Parliament. Rather consensual, the text was voted unanimously by the Senate, a few days after adoption in the National Assembly. It provides a legal framework for these major “regional metropolitan express services” (SERM) projects, the equivalent of the RER in Ile-de-France.

“It’s a great ecological text”estimated the Minister of Transport, Clément Beaune, before the senators, assuring that this law will ultimately allow “for millions of French people in the peripheries to have access to public transport solutions”. The law provides in particular to expand the missions of the Société du Grand Paris (SGP), renamed Société des grands Projets, to put these SERMs on track in around ten major metropolises, within 10 years.

SGP will be the prime contractor for the construction of new infrastructure or railway lines, while SNCF Réseau will retain its role of improving and maintaining the existing network. But it is about offering more than just an improved rail service, with trains running every 10 to 15 minutes, and connections crossing major metropolises. These SERMs must combine express cars, cycle networks, carpooling, to encourage car-free mobility in all its forms around major French cities.