The train remains a new idea. Nearly two hundred years after the first line of railway line in England in 1825, a new rail revolution was underway: that of free. Each century, its stake. If, in the 19th e
é> then in the 20th th century, transport infrastructure first served economic development, they must now serve in the first place the fight against warming climate.
This paradigm change is not a utopia. It is not a choice, but a necessity, and begins to realize before our eyes. And it is time for France to catch up so as not to miss the train of history.
In Germany, the federal government decided, in May, a subscription to 9 euros on the entire local and regional network of the country which made it possible, in three months, to lower the inflation of two points, to switch 10 % of the road traffic to rail and win 1.8 million tonnes of Co 2 . Building on this result, the Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, is thinking of extending the measure …
In Spain, the Government of Pedro Sanchez has just set up free transport for the coming four months, around the twelve largest cities and the suburbs: the Renfe [SNCF equivalent] estimates the 75 million the Additional trips to come over the period.
In Occitanie, the region has set up the train to 1 euro for many years: 3 million tickets sold per year (according to the Occitanie region and the SNCF), half of which in summer, allow residents From all territories, seasonal workers, tourists, to travel in an economical and sustainable way. In Montpellier, a metropolis, the most important to date in France, votes free transport, while cities, villages take almost daily initiatives in this sense.
political voluntarism
Yes, a revolution is underway. And it accelerates with the climate and social urgency that shakes our habits and our modes of thought. It requires for France Lucidity and political voluntarism.
Lucidity to reinvest strongly in its rail network. On August 28, we inaugurated the reopening of the line of the right bank of the Rhône, between Pont-Saint-Esprit and Nîmes, closed since 1973 by the State and the SNCF. When, after listening to the population, elected officials, the economic actors of this territory of the Rhodanian Gard, I decided in 2016 that the train would return, I was replied: “It is impossible, Madam President.”
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