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Title: 100 B€ to be spent on French regional railways Post by: stuving on February 24, 2023, 16:03:14 I posted about last November's announcement of "RER métropolitain" plans as a minor point in another thread (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=26967.msg328526#msg328526), not thinking it would amount to much. Well, it has amounted to a much bigger announcement, at least. From Reuters (https://www.reuters.com/article/france-transport-borne/france-plans-to-invest-100-billion-euros-in-rail-infrastructure-by-2040-idINL8N354297):
Quote France plans to invest 100 billion euros in rail infrastructure by 2040 PARIS, Feb 24 (Reuters) - France plans to invest 100 billion euros in rail transport by 2040 as part of a government push to reduce the country’s carbon footprint, the government said on Friday. The plan, aimed at expanding and upgrading the rail network, includes launching express commuter trains similar to the Paris RER system in major cities, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said. The announcement seeks to tackle perceived inequalities between Paris and other parts of the country when it comes to public infrastructure, exacerbated by soaring energy costs that have made transport expensive for millions of commuters. Of course pre-announcement of a lot of spending can be quite cheap, even more so if it's also partly a re-announcement. It's finding the cash when it's needed that hurts. Mind you, French governments have a better record for actually carrying out their expensive promises than ours. And as usual for French infrastructure projects, they will be raiding other piggy-banks as well as their own: Quote France would make the planned investments together with national rail operator SNCF, the European Union and local governments, she [Elisabeth Borne] said. Title: Re: 100 B€ to be spent on French regional railways Post by: Noggin on March 03, 2023, 19:54:59 There's a little more substance at https://www.railtech.com/infrastructure/2023/02/28/new-railway-deal-for-france-100-billion-by-2040/?gdpr=accept
Bear in mind with French public transport that there's a "Versement Transport" - basically a payroll tax of 2.85% in Greater Paris and a bit less elsewhere which gives some fairly big pots of cash to pay for this stuff. Much as with the UK, there's a huge amount of income inequality between Paris and the French provincial cities, whilst the big cities are overcrowded and short of housing, so there's probably an element of a "leveling up" agenda. This page is printed from the "Coffee Shop" forum at http://gwr.passenger.chat which is provided by a customer of Great Western Railway. Views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that content provided contravenes our posting rules ( see http://railcustomer.info/1761 ). The forum is hosted by Well House Consultants - http://www.wellho.net |