This is the realization of the future high-speed line (LGV) between Toulouse (Haute-Garonne) and Paris, via Bordeaux. Tuesday, members of the Grand Projet Sud-Ouest company (GPSO), bringing together 24 local authorities from Occitanie and Nouvelle-Aquitaine, tightened the first bolt of the railway development site north of Toulouse (AFNT), the first link of the LGV to Bordeaux and Paris. The start of a colossal project which will develop 19 km of tracks between Saint-Jory and Matabiau station. Delivery of this new line of 418 km in total is expected between 2030 and 2032, reducing the train travel time between the Pink City and the capital to 3 hours 10 minutes instead of 4 hours 10 minutes. A thirty-year-old project that is finally taking shape.
“This first phase is concomitant with the Rail Developments to the south of Bordeaux, which will put an end to the inequality for Toulouse of being the only regional capital in France without high-speed rail,” said Jean-Luc Moudenc, president of Toulouse. Metropolis. I draw the attention of the State and the SNCF to also treat the immediate environment of the stations to have a complete vision of their accessibility and work on intermodality. This will also develop the daily train and the future metropolitan regional express service for which we have applied.”
For this first phase of work, nearly 14 billion euros, including 900 million for AFNT, are invested. The GPSO company provides 40% of the financing of the operation. Carole Delga, president of the Occitanie region, welcomed “this first essential but still insufficient step to develop daily trains. We must develop a second route in the north-west quarter of Occitanie, including Montauban which is already saturated at the rail level.
The State provides 40% of the financing and the remaining 20% will be provided by Europe since this line, as well as the three new stations and the two stops, creates faster access to the South-West, as far as Spain. . The investment cost of phase 2, for the new Dax-Spain line, amounts to 4 billion euros.
