TRANSPORT – This new line has a “national interest”The president of the Île-de-France region, Valérie Pécresse, has alienated the Normandy region after voting on Wednesday, September 11, for a motion to ask the State to abandon the Paris-Normandy Line (LNPN) project, which is to link Normandy towns to Paris.
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To justify having vetoed this service expected by 2040, Valérie Pécresse denigrated a project “whose ecological and economic impact would be disastrous for the towns crossed, particularly in Yvelines”. According to the motion adopted by the regional elected representatives of the Paris region, “This line requires the artificialization of hundreds of hectares of agricultural land which are among the best in France”.
“A nice snub to the Normans”
The project, estimated at 11.5 billion euros by the region, is also a “economic aberration” et “will destroy or damage water resources and natural areas essential to the protection of biodiversity”.
Valérie Pécresse had issued three conditions in March to provide her support, particularly financial, to the project: maintaining the stoppage of Normandy trains in Mantois, an extension of the underground section in Yvelines and “that the freight service is not to the detriment of passengers”. All these conditions “were refused by the State and the Normandy region”it is written in the motion.
“What can I say? Valérie Pécresse is thumbing her nose at the Normans,” reacted François Ouzilleau, mayor (DVD) of Vernon (Eure) and regional councilor of Normandy, to the Parisian. He still castigates: “We are not rednecks! For us, the train is a factor of economic development and we have a right to it. It is now up to our region to step up to the plate to defend the LNPN with greater force.”
“A shift from car journeys to rail”
This decision by the Île-de-France region has sparked anger across the Normandy region as a whole. Several major urban areas (Rouen, Le Havre, Caen and Cherbourg) have signed a joint statement in which they defend “a project of national interest”, as you can read below.
These Normandy towns are notably putting forward ecological arguments to call on the State to support the LNPN. “It contributes to developing low-carbon mobility” and one “transfer of car journeys to rail “, they write. The line should in fact make it possible to connect Paris to Rouen in less than an hour (compared to 1 hour 20 currently) or Paris to Le Havre in 1 hour 45 (compared to 2 hours 05). According to them, it will also help to relieve congestion on the railway lines around Paris.
A project “supported by a government of which Valérie Pécresse was a member”
“Valérie Pécresse forgets that the project was announced by Nicolas Sarkozy in 2009, and that it was therefore carried out with determination by a government of which she was a member”continue the Norman communities.
Moreover, “The project partners, including its region, have devoted more than 100 million euros to date” to studies, we can read in the press release.
The project, which dates back to 2009, has already passed several key stages. A first phase of study was carried out between 2014 and 2017, and the State reaffirmed “its priority character” and set a roadmap in 2020, according to the SNCF Réseau website presenting the infrastructure. The future of the line “Paris-Normandy” is now in the hands of the future government of Prime Minister Michel Barnier.
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