Half a billion euros invested in the rail network in Occitanie: where will the main SNCF projects be in 2024 ?

Un train usine travaillera, de nuit, au remplacement des rails, traverses et ballast entre Salses et Perpignan, ce printemps. SNCF RESEAU

SNCF Réseau and its subsidiary Gares&Connexions are increasing their level of investment, with some seventy major projects in the region. Objective: greater reliability.

555 M€ invested compared to 483 million in 2023, 313 a year earlier, on infrastructure; 62 M€ in Occitanie stations. "To improve performance, to improve the regularity of our trains", the regional director of SCNF Réseau Catherine Trevet and Hilaire Hautem, the boss of Gares & Connexion, presented, on Monday, an investment program "increasing sharply in 2024". "Seventy major projects", which should benefit the territory's fine service lines, the so-called structuring network or even the stations.

1 – A factory train between Salses and Perpignan

We call it a quick suite: a factory train, capable of changing catenary posts or complete track, rails, ballast and sleepers included. There will be three of them in Occitania this year, two on the Polt line, from Paris to Orléans and Toulouse, in such poor condition, one in the Pyrénées-Orientales: "The objective is to replace 26 km of track. We begin on March 26, night work to allow the movement of travelers during the day." A work of two months and 53.90 M€.

2 – From Nîmes to Grau and on the “H” Lozerien

This will be the other hard point in Languedoc-Roussillon, the cutoff for two months, after the summer season, of the Nîmes-Le-Grau-du-Roi line. Between Vauvert and the sea, 11 km of tracks need to be replaced, five switches removed, six hydraulic structures restored. Sixty agents will be on deck, 10.8 M€ committed, on a line closed to traffic from September 23 to November 29, in whole or in part.

In the Pyrénées-Orientales, the circulation of the Yellow Train will be interrupted twice, before and after the summer. SNCF NETWORK

On these fine local service lines, other traffic interruptions are scheduled for heavy work. In the Pyrénées-Orientales on the Yellow Train line (from the end of February to the end of April, then in October), reinforcement of tunnels, in particular. In Lozère, between Mende and La Bastide with cuts in February, then in April and May, in Gard, from Alès to Langogne, over the same period. On the other hand, traffic will be preserved during work carried out on this Cévennes line, between Nîmes and Alès, from March 18 to May 10, day and night.

"We're going to regenerate the “H” lozérien, details Catherine Trevet: dealing with the track, rock walls and tunnels on the Cévenol, the track and hydraulic works on the Aubrac, the track and walls on the Translozérien."

In Aveyron, the work will be concentrated in the Rodez area, to the south towards Naucelle and to the north towards Sébazac-Concourès.

3 – Punch operations in Montpellier

This is a classic of May bridges. Two traffic interruptions on the coastal route will allow a series "of strike operations", in Montpellier, in particular. On Ascension and Pentecost weekends, no convoys will run on the line, authorizing the renewal of switches in Saint-Roch station. Same thing in Matabiau, in Toulouse, and during the weekend of November 11, Frontignan station.

📸#JeudiPhoto du chantier dans le tunnel ferroviaire de #Pertenere à #Banyuls en @Occitanie en cours
👏30 personnes mobilisées🌙 pour renforcer l'infrastructure, pérenniser l'ouvrage et permettre de maintenir la performance de la ligne
✅8M€ financés à 100% par @SNCFReseau pic.twitter.com/ZmngDQQMKe

— Catherine TREVET (@CatherineTrevet) February 1, 2024

4 – 47 M to rethink Béziers station

SNCF Gares&Connexions almost doubles its budget this year compared to 2022.

The objective is to accelerate the accessibility of the 292 stations and stops in Occitanie, frequented by "80 million travelers and visitors per year", underlines Hilaire Hautem. That is "51.9% more travelers than in 2019", notes Jean-Luc Gibelin, vice-president of the Region , in the TER. "In 2023, twenty stations were under construction and twelve were delivered. In 2024, sixteen more" will be affected. This panel includes Sète, Carcassonne, Nîmes and Perpignan.

Broader program, the Béziers multimodal hub will be "the most important project in the territory", notes Hilaire Hautem , to the tune of 47 M€.

Also read: Montpellier – Perpignan high-speed line: six years of a race against time, up to Béziers

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