On the line between Tours and Châteauroux, only the section up to Loches is still operated for travelers. Since the end of the 1970s, the connection between the two prefectures has only been provided by coaches. Created a year ago, the LCCLT Emergency Committee is campaigning for a reopening of the line, in order to open up Indre and the south of Indre-et-Loire.
The LCCLT Emergency Committee (for the Châteauroux-Châtillon-Loches-Tours line) is organizing a “brush-clearing hike” in Châtillon-sur-Indre (36) on June 28. A symbolic operation aimed at discovering the old railway line where vegetation has reclaimed its rights. But above all to ask the Region to include, in its next budget, studies prior to putting the line back into service.
A symbolic clearing operation will be carried out on the railway line on June 28, near Châtillon-sur-Indre.
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© LCCLT Emergency Committee
“There is an urgent need for this line to reviveexplains Jean-Claude Durandeau, president of the LCCLT Emergency Committee, it is missing in this territory. You only need to look at a rail transport map to realize that the south of our region is completely neglected. The line exists, it still belongs to the national rail network, it just needs work, certainly quite substantial, to put it back into service.“
An essential line reopening to combat global warming, by relieving traffic on a RD 943 deemed, moreover, far too dangerous. But it is also about making Indre and the south of Indre-et-Loire more attractive.
“The interest is to fight against the desertification of the south of the region, to bring a little fresh air, economically or in terms of tourism.continues the Chairman of the Committee. Today, for students and entrepreneurs, health travel and travel times are dissuasive. With more efficient transport, people would perhaps no longer hesitate to come and settle in our villages, which are now abandoned and deserted. This would also be in line with the zero land artificialization law..”
Founded in June 2023, after numerous public meetings where residents near this line were able to express their expectations, the association won a first big battle last fall: the inclusion of the feasibility study in the contract State-Region plan 2023-2027.
“The Region must now include the study in its next budget, in September, so that it can be done quickly.continues Mr. Durandeau. We have to move quickly, because Élisabeth Borne had announced the release of 100 billion Euros for the railway… If this happens, it is better to be ready, with a well-crafted project. Because the Region hopes for participation from the State in this return to service.”
“It should be state funding, but we no longer believe in it, laments Vincent Degeorge, president of FNAUT Centre-Val de Loire (National Federation of Transport User Associations). We are already so busy defending better service, improving the lines in operation, that the reopening of existing infrastructure is no longer even a subject! We are still very far from the goal, we were impatiently awaiting a major rail plan, but 100 billion Euros remains notoriously insufficient…”
Even with the best will, the regions cannot do everything, according to Vincent Degeorge:
“They have limited resources, especially a small region like Centre-Val de Loire, and, once again, it is not up to them to finance the infrastructure. However, they take charge of the work, Tours-Loches is one of them. typical example. It is a transfer of management, on an area of the national rail network! Yes, the Region is proactive, but within its means. It must make choices and concentrate primarily on the lines where there are. lots of demand, lots of users.”
TER train passing Reignac-sur-Indre (37) near the silo where grain freight is loaded.
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© B. Verdier / ADTT
FNAUT estimates that the cost of bringing Loches to Châteauroux back into service for freight and passenger traffic would cost “at least 240 million Euros and cannot intervene before 2040.”
“It’s a safe bet that it would be much more, underlines Mr. Degeorge. Between Loches and Buzançais, there is everything to redo (the portion between Buzançais and Loches is still in operation for freight, Editor’s note). And doing it again for freight or for passengers is not at all the same thing. Freight trains can travel at 20 km/h, do not require station developments or automated level crossings, they do not need the same signage, etc. A return to service for freight should logically be a first step, a foreshadowing of the future passenger line.”
While waiting for this reopening which remains very hypothetical for the moment, the bus journey being extremely long, the FNAUT is proposing an experiment with direct trains via Vierzon. According to the association, such an offer, without connections, would allow a travel time of less than two hours:
The association for the development of public transport in Touraine (ADTT) and FNAUT offer a direct connection via Vierzon between the two prefectures, pending the line’s return to service.
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© ADTT
“This of course requires an appropriate price.specifies Vincent Degeorge, which is not weighted on the mileage because we actually lengthen the journey a little. Less than two hours, it would become interesting, but obviously without eliminating the bus connection which makes cabotage, a finer network in the small towns located between Tours and Châteauroux.”
The fight promises to be long and difficult before the line reopens between the prefectures of Indre and Indre-et-Loire. But the LCCLT Emergency Committee, the FNAUT and the ADTT do not intend to give up, as the issues have become so essential:
“These are environmental issues but also rebalancing territoriesconcludes Mr. Degeorge. The yellow vests are still waiting, and we can clearly see today the massive vote for the RN in rural areas. How can we be surprised?”
All the restoration of rail links are relevant, we have closed so many small lines! However, it is a much fairer and more ecological mode of transport than all the others, over medium or long distances. We have 40 years of all-TGV to catch up on, we have completely abandoned upkeep and maintenance of the rest of the network and, today, we are paying the price!
Vincent Degeorge, ADTT president, FNAUT regional president
For the “clearing hike”, the LCCLT Emergency Committee meets its members as well as all the inhabitants of the two departments concerned by the restoration of the line in Châtillon-sur-Indre, in the cemetery parking lot, Friday 28 June at 7 p.m. The evening will continue with a convivial moment around a buffet.
