Passenger Trains > French Intercity Trains In Trouble?

Also posted to European board.
From International Railway Journal. Might need to copy and paste, since it looks like the "+" at the end didn't hyperlink: [www.railjournal.com]+

Thursday, May 21, 2015
Call for action to save French Intercity services
Written by Keith Barrow
THE Association of French Regions (ARF) and the Federation of French Towns have warned the French government that it must act decisively to save the so-called balance of territory (TET) trains, a network of 40 loss-making long-distance services which serves 355 towns and cities across 21 regions.
"We fear that over half of the TET services will be lost and routes will be transferred to the regions," Mr Jacques Auxiette, president of Pays de la Loire and the ARF commission for infrastructure and transport said at a press conference held by the two associations on May 20.
At the end of last year the government formed a commission of politicians and industry experts, chaired by member of parliament for Calvados Mr Philippe Duron to develop proposals for the future development of the network. The commission is due to present its initial report in the next few days.
The two associations say they are concerned that the state and French National Railways (SNCF) view the TET services in purely financial terms and warn that this could lead to the loss of vital social and economic links between regional towns and cities. Losses from the TET network are forecast to reach €400m by next year.
"The existence and survival of the TET trains is extremely important to our towns and cities, and helps to prevent economic decline in the regions," says Mrs Caroline Cayeux, mayor of Beauvais and president of the Federation of French Towns.
The associations are urging the government to bring forward the concesssioning of public service obligation inter-regional services to enable private operators to enter the market. Currently the government has no plans to implement this before 2019.
Auxiette says regional governments are willing to consider the transfer of some routes to the regions, "subject to adequate financial compensation" from the state.

 



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/02/15 15:45 by knotch8.

Only article I could find was about the postal TGV's being dropped. I don't think that is a big deal. Was there another article?

Here's a 2009 article about the original plan to double the number of TGV routes by 2020. The key is that the cost would be divided among the state, the SNCF, and the local councils / regions. Since then, costs have gone way up, the councils have shown low interest in funding the higher share, etc.

France collects a lot of money from its $8 a gallon gasoline ($5 of which is tax), high tolls on just about all major highways, and severe restrictions on short haul aircraft operating between French cities. I haven't been able to find recent documentation about how much of that cash flow is used to fund local rail and bus operations. 

(Italy has similar structures, with regions funding or not funding local rail services.)

France

http://www.railjournal.com/index.php/main-line/french-regions-call-for-action-to-save-intercity-services.html
Thursday, May 21, 2015 Call for action to save French Intercity services Written by  Keith Barrow

In France passenger trains are in four broad categories. 1. Suburban services in Paris, 2.High Speed Trains (TGV) from Paris to the regions (plus some from region to region). These generally run for much of their journey on dedicted high speed track. 3. Intra-regional trains, generally supported by that region and 4. Long distance non-TGV services that cross regional boundaries. It is the fourth category that this article is about. The French Railway company SNCF has neglected these trains for many years, preferring to concentrate on TGV services. The final report has suggested that SNCF can do much better than they are doing now.