Row continues over LGV funding in Poitou Charentes

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The row over funding of the new LGV Sud-Europe Atlantique continued this week, with politicians from Deux-Sèvres and Vienne refusing to fund the project to the levels proposed.

The cost of the project, estimated to be 7.2 billion euros, is to be met by a combination of public and private funding, with 50% to be met by a combination of the regions, the government and the EU.  Poitou Charentes is charged with meeting 4.34% of the overall funding, but leaders in both Deux Sèvres and Vienne claim that their expected contribution is too much. 

Vienne is expected to provide 27.9m€ (with a further 22.9m€ from the communes of Poitiers, and 6m€ from the communes of Châtellerault), whilst the communes of Niort are expected to contribute to the tune of 21m€, despite the fact that Deux Sèvres will gain little from the project.

The LGV will cross into Deux Sèvres for just 6km, and Eric Gautier the president of the Conseil General of Deux Sèvres says they cannot meet the levels of funding required, and would prefer to develop internal services within the department.

Claude Bertaud president of the Conseil General of Vienne said "it is out of the question to pay [this amount]", a sentiment reinforced by both Alain Claeys (Poitiers) and Jean-Pierre Abelin (Châtellerault).  The view from Vienne was that they are not opposed to helping fund the LGV, but that both the government and the EU should be contributing more to the project.

Meanwhile, the Secretary of State for Transport Dominique Bussereau has said that the question of financing the project remains open.  On the question of funding from Europe, he pointed out that Europe sees the Tours-Bordeaux section of LGV as a very much a French project, unlike the section to the south of Bordeaux that will open up a high speed link with Spain and Portugal.

Charente Maritime, who have no stations involved in the project, will contribute 26.3m€, whilst Charente will be asked for 29.9m€.

The project which has been many years in the planning, will shorten journey times to Paris and beyond with a new stretch of track that will carry passengers at over 300km/h.  It will also free-up the existing track for the expansion of both regional and freight services.  Airlines have one-eye on high-speed rail as a credible alternative to air travel, with Air France/KLM possibly looking to invest in the European high speed network.  A single TGV train can carry around 1000 passengers at a time.

The first stage of the project between Angoulême and Bordeaux is planned to become operational from 2013, with the second stage between Tours and Angoulême following in 2016.