Toulouse: the SERM project (including the Toulouse RER) officially certified

“First 15 projects of Metropolitan Regional Express Services (SERM) have just been certified,” announced the government on Thursday, June 27, 2024 – three days before the first round of legislative elections –, referring in particular to the file presented by the communities of Toulouse, which includes the famous Toulouse RER.

A “first step” before “the delivery of SERM status”

” The labeling marks the first step in this procedure” before “the granting of SERM status”detailed the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion.

He specifies that said labeling “is based on a ‘minute file’ established by the project leaders, which presents the general ambition, the local actors mobilized, the scope concerned and the major strategic orientations”.

When will SERM status be officially granted?

“The regions and communities of the territories [concernés, parmi lesquels celui de Toulouse] are invited to continue the work of developing their SERM with a view to obtaining status by order »supports the ministry.

This decision will be taken on the basis of a detailed file, which must specify the objectives, the roadmap to achieve them, the financing plan as well as the governance of the project.

This “first wave” reflects “a new stage” of the various SERM projects. According to the ministry, “other ‘minute files’ have been received and are being processed” concerning eight territories and “may subsequently be labeled”. These include major French cities such as Marseille et Nicewhose files are visibly less advanced.

“We are ready!” exclaims Carole Delga

Fervent defender of the project, Carole Delga was delighted that the files of Toulousebut also Montpellier. “First steps, first successes of our candidacies”, writes the president of the Occitanie Region on X. She sees it as an asset to “bring the outskirts and rural areas closer to city centres”.

LGV, RER, metros, trams, express coaches, bicycles… We will offer new low-carbon travel solutions to our fellow citizens.

” We are ready “, trumpets the elected official, emphasizing in passing that “the investment before us is colossal” and that “the State will have to be there.”

Sébastien Vincini “mobilized to ensure that this project can succeed”

“I am satisfied to see our application for the creation of a Metropolitan regional express service accepted,” also reacted Sebastien Vincinithe president of the Departmental Council of Haute-Garonne.

This step is a further step towards providing answers in terms of sustainable and multimodal mobility in Haute-Garonne.

It is an “essential project for the daily lives of residents”, according to Sébastien Vincini, who recalls: “The SERM is the complementarity of solutions on which the Haute-Garonne Departmental Council is committed: carpooling, express bicycle networks, express bus lines, LGV…” He continues: “The Department will remain mobilized to make this project a success.”

“The road is still long” warns Jean-Luc Moudenc

“The State recognizes the quality of work from Toulouse” was delighted Jean-Luc Moudencthe mayor and president of the Metropolis, who “welcomes this first step”.

The road is still long. Everything remains to be done, in truth. This requires the launch of collective and concerted work, which I call for, to build a real common project, by combining our skills, respective and different, in terms of daily travel.

The elected official, who said he was ready to “commit proactively” to this issue, also calls on the State to put its hand in its pocket: “We are above all waiting for a real financial participation of the State — which must be the most important since it is he who created this SERM approach — certainly for the railway, but also for the essential development of bus express, of the bike lines and some urban developments« .

Moudenc and Lattes’ pressure on projects to be financed

The day before this announcement, Jean-Luc Moudenc had also made public mail co-signed with his deputy for transport and president of Tisséo Jean-Michel Lattesaddressed to the prefect Pierre-André Durand and to Carole Delga, in which the duo recalls “identified non-railway needs” in the greater Toulouse area, and which still require a… colossal investment.

“Toulouse Métropole and Tisséo wish to complete the SERM application file officially proposed to the government last March, which estimated only the investment costs of the railway component, namely 4.1 billion euros”, explain the two men, recalling that the SERM does not only include the Toulouse RER.

Financing transport hubs, bus and metro developments, etc.

In order to “consolidate this file”, “non-rail operations are essential for an ambitious and coherent project which promotes intermodality”, they believe, mentioning in particular the “station exchange hubs”, the “road operations to organize the connection” towards these poles, but also “the necessary developments for express bus lines Tisséo », the cycle paths, infrastructure of carpooling…

They also discuss the issues surrounding “urban connections” such as “the creation of a metro station” to Niel, but also “the creation or extension of a bus line, metro line, cable car line….”

“Investment needs” at 553 million euros

According to the two Toulouse presidents, if all these projects “are cited” in the file “and appear in an intermodality map”, they “are not translated […] in financial estimates”. However, these “investment needs” were assessed by their communities at 553 million euros (426 in Toulouse Métropole, 127 in other territories covered by Tisséo).

In short, they call on their “partners” to sit around the table in order to “share these proposals”, to establish “a concerted and stabilized vision of the Toulouse SERM project”, and thus to “consolidate its application file “.

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