the essential
The first catenary pole was symbolically installed yesterday in Toulouse by elected officials to begin work on the high-speed line between Toulouse and Bordeaux. Around the prefect, they welcomed a real lever to decarbonize travel to Paris but also everyday mobility.
It was by tightening the enormous bolts of the first post supporting a catenary (there will be 1,500 in total) that the Occitan elected officials symbolically kicked off work on the high-speed line (LGV) to a few hundred meters from Matabiau station in Toulouse. As this is one of the largest construction sites in France, the attributes of public works were called upon: fluorescent vests, safety shoes, wrenches… all in the pouring rain. “Rainy baptism, happy baptism” said Carole Delga, all smiles.
A 30-year-old dream… under Michel Rocard
The regional president alongside the mayor of Toulouse Jean-Luc Moudenc and Sébastien Vincini, president of Haute-Garonne in the presence of prefect Pierre-André Durand are all savoring the moment because yesterday they realized the dream of an entire territory. A thirty-year-old dream since the mayor of Toulouse recalled that the promise to connect Paris in three hours dates back to 1991 during an interministerial committee for regional planning (CIADT). The Prime Minister was then called Michel Rocard!
“We were patient and led the fight whatever our political colors until the funding was raised in record time,” recalled the president of Toulouse Métropole. In fact, no less than 25 communities in Occitanie and Nouvelle-Aquitaine are financing 40% of the 14 billion euro project alongside the State (40%) and the European Union (20%).
Triple good news
The three major elected officials recalled the “eminently ecological project” that the LGV represents by allowing a modal shift from planes and cars to the benefit of trains. Jean-Luc Moudenc shared the figure for TGV travel “62 times less polluting than the car or the plane”. Sébastien Vincini, whose community is the second largest financier of Occitanie with €534 million, even sees triple good news: “The arrival of high speed, the rise of everyday trains made possible by the doubling of tracks and the first brick for the SERM”, this Toulouse RER which could see the light of day gradually from 2030.
For Carole Delga, who pointedly thanked former Prime Minister Jean Castex for his decisive action, “this LGV repairs an injustice because Toulouse is the only metropolis of more than a million inhabitants in Europe which remains away from high speed”. The regional president also sees it as a key link for everyday trains thanks to new routes but also for connecting to Southern Europe and in particular to Spain. “It is also one more step towards forming a ‘Rail Airbus’ around the national rail champions,” she added.
Nearly eight years of work for 10,000 jobs
So we’re off for eight years of work with this first project which aims to develop a large 19 km railway junction from Toulouse Matabiau station to Castelnau-d’Estretefonds in the north of the metropolis. From 2028, the construction of the new line between Bordeaux and Toulouse will follow, with entry into service planned for 2032. “This project will generate 10,000 jobs: 4,000 direct, 4,000 indirect and 2,000 induced” has for its share figures Matthieu Chabanel, CEO of SNCF Réseau.
Taxes that make people cringe
As part of the financing of the Grand Projet Sud-Ouest (GPSO), a special equipment tax is planned for the 2,340 municipalities which are 60 minutes by car from a future LGV station. The tax concerns individuals, via the property tax and the housing tax on second homes, as long as they live less than an hour’s drive from a future station.
A few euros per year
This contribution will be due for forty years. The proceeds from the tax will bring in €29.5 million per year. Companies have already been paying it since January 1, 2024 via the corporate property contribution (CFE). It is more the principle that upsets some elected officials and residents than the amount of the tax which will only amount to a few euros per year per household.
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