The all-TGV "reached its limits
Posted by admin on May 19th, 2011Click on the thumbnail to enlarge the graphic.
France no longer has the means to cover its territory lines of high speed trains. This is the conclusion arrived Herve Mariton, MP (UMP) of the Drome, in a draft report on the transport infrastructure and presented Wednesday at his colleagues in the Finance Committee in the Assembly.
The debate on the economic viability of all-TGV "is not new. Already in 2007, the pomp of the opening ceremonies of the Eastern line was barely hidden its financial equilibrium. Since the profitability of the branch TGV former cash cow of the SNCF, has steadily eroded in the accounts of the company.The state has passed him by a logic of economic recovery – in 2008-2009, when the lineup of the Grenelle environment – an imperative of budgetary discipline.
And then shortly after Christmas 2010, a Strasbourg-Portbou train took him 26 hours to complete his journey, revealing in full light the glaring lack of investment in maintenance of the existing railway network, may be sacrificed for thirty years the construction of TGV lines.
Deriving from Grenelle, the national blueprint for transport infrastructure (Snit) yet still sees the big picture. In 2030, he plans, believes Herve Mariton, projects that cost a total 260 billion euros, including 166 billion for new developments. The state would take 86 billion to his office.In short, "the total expenditure exceeds by far the means" available.
Example Tours-Bordeaux
For Hervé Mariton, we must make choices and to concentrate subsidies, where Snit conspicuous by its "lack of prioritization. Regarding the new TGV lines, four projects are already committed, for a total cost of 17 billion euros. These include line Rhine-Rhône (Strasbourg-Lyon), largely financed by local and will be inaugurated in early September, the second phase of the TGV East, Britain and the link-Pays de Loire.
The fourth line, Tours-Bordeaux, offers a good illustration of the debate. Of all the examples studied by Herve Mariton is one that offers the best prospects for revenue, up 55% of its investment plan.Yet the financial closing of the transaction, led by Vinci, skates for weeks.
Is it really necessary in these conditions to complete the Bordeaux-Toulouse, Poitiers, Limoges, Paris-Le Havre and other Roissy-Picardie, in short these thirteen other projects in the Snit, more or less begun, and whose total cost is estimated to 86 billion euros?
Herve Mariton questioned. No financial solution will not in fact compensate for insufficient traffic. The public-private partnership which, as in Tours-Bordeaux, involves a dealer (here Vinci) is a financing technique, not a revenue generator.And the ticket price – already felt by consumers as higher than suggested by European comparisons – can not be a more significant adjustment variable.
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