Bordeaux-Toulouse-Dax-Spain high-speed line: the populations surveyed approve

La LGV entre Paris et Bordeaux. Reste à connaître son avenir jusqu’à Toulouse puis l’Espagne. MAXPPP – Mathieu Herduin

Une enquête menée des deux côtés des Pyrénées montre des résultats favorables au projet. Détails et explications.

"The least we can say is that the Great South-West (railway) Project (GPSO), which aims to create of a new high-speed line Bordeaux-Toulouse-Dax-Spain is very well received by public opinion on both sides of the Pyrenees.< /p>

This is therefore the first judgment released by Gaël Sliman, the president of Odoxa, when commenting on the survey commissioned from him by the GPSO Society.

French and Spanish unanimous

A survey carried out in mid-March, among 1005 French people and as many Spaniards. From which it appears that "the GPSO is approved by nearly eight out of ten French people and more than nine out of ten Spaniards. It must be said that the French (79%) and Spaniards (95%) are convinced that this new high-speed line will better connect Europe, from North to South, and from there. rsquo;West to East", indicates Gaël Sliman.

Then, continues the boss of the polling institute, "three quarters of French people and more than nine out of ten Spaniards are convinced of the benefits of this project in terms of improving trade between Toulouse and Bordeaux, or between Spain and France, but also for medium-sized towns in the South-West, and for better service to areas located near train stations. "

Plebiscite against contested project

A form of plebiscite, therefore, if we are to believe the results of this study, for a project born in the mid-2000s, which also meets strong opposition even though it is supported by the New Regions -Aquitaine and Occitanie. Estimated at 14.3 billion euros, it also benefits from the support of the European Union.

Its opponents believe in particular that this enormous project would have an irreversible impact on the environment (natural and agricultural areas).

Parliamentarians and local elected officials who are hostile to it also denounced in a recent letter, according to Le Figaro, that "the very usefulness of the project raises questions". According to them, the already existing rail links between Bordeaux, Toulouse and Dax "are still underused », while "on the other hand, many lines that are really useful to our fellow citizens and to the life of our territories are not maintained and are gradually abandoned in favor of road transport".

First works

Two weeks ago, the prefect of Gironde and the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region (and former prefect of the Occitanie region from 2018 to 2023), Étienne Guyot, confirmed in the columns of Sud-Ouest the timetable of the railway project and its financing plan (including around a hundred million euros already "paid by the ;Europe since the launch of the project" he assured.).

And to affirm that "the developments north of Toulouse have started. The public inquiry for the developments south of Bordeaux will be launched at the beginning of the summer to launch the work at the end of the year."

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