Transport: “The choice of iron over bitumen is understandable, but it does not prevent questioning the cost-benefit ratio”

OTalking Train, Wednesday, June 7, at the Council of Ministers. The future plan of transport is presented there. Clement Bonn, delegate of the Minister of Transport, and Christophe Bechu, Minister of Environmental Transition, were to announce the mobility component of the state-region contract, which outlines state support for regional investments in this area in 2023-2027.

Prefects will be able to initiate negotiations with elected officials on specific programs. The government asserts clear priorities. It will be rail and daily mobility. These two areas will mobilize two-thirds of the total commitment of €8.6 billion over five years. A significant effort, as it is 50% more than the 2015-2022 figure.

As a result of this probable choice, the amount allocated for the train will be almost doubled, and the amount for the road will be halved: thus, 2.5 billion euros will be allocated for the renewal of small lines, the development of the railway. Freight, making stations accessible to people with disabilities and metropolitan elected officials valued new, regional RERs, by developing lines serving suburbs and crossing metros. Wisely, the government has changed its semantics and prefers to talk “Metropolitan Regional Express Services”.

bad result

Justified precautions, because the reality on the ground is so far from the romantic visions of railway France, an absolute panacea in the fight against climate change. The choice of iron over bitumen is understandable, as transport alone accounts for a third of greenhouse gas emissions in France. But this does not prevent questioning the train’s cost-benefit ratio, including the environmental one.

Interesting article on the site bonesMobility researcher Jean-Pierre Orphey recalls several figures. Between 2007 and 2019, public spending on rail increased by 39%, following many alarming reports about the state of the network. At the same time, total gross domestic product increased by 13%, government spending by 20%, hospitals by 18% and education by 12%. Therefore, it cannot be said that this sector is neglected.

Thirteen years of effort and 140 billion euros invested later, the result is mediocre. The train’s market share of 10% has not changed and the network is still aging. Because the train is adapted to mass transport, not to the diffuse habitat that characterizes the large peripheries of cities. More modular solutions, with buses of all sizes capable of different routes, are therefore much more efficient and economical. Even if politically it’s less dreamy than shiny TGVs.