New Montpellier-Perpignan Line: a territorial dialogue commission is set up, the Poussan viaduct a major subject

Les membres de la commission présidée par Jean-Guy Majourel (au centre) ont commencé leur travail. DR

A commission led by the Société de la Ligne Nouvelle Montpellier-Perpignan (SLNMP).

A further step was taken in the Montpellier-Perpignan New Line project last week. Sète Agglopôle Méditerranée (SAM) hosted the installation meeting of the Territorial Dialogue commission set up by the Société de la Ligne Nouvelle Montpellier-Perpignan (SLNMP) at the Flex incubator premises.

Chaired by Jean-Guy Majourel, first vice-president of Sète Agglo, this commission is made up of elected representatives from the Region, the Hérault Department and the four inter-municipal areas crossed by the first phase of the project (Montpellier-Béziers). A phase that extends over 52.3 km (+7 km of connections), concerns 18 municipalities, including some in the Thau basin (Gigean, Poussan, Loupian, Mèze).

Also sitting on this committee, in an advisory capacity, are the communities concerned by phase 2 (Béziers-Perpignan) and representatives of SNCF Réseau, the project owner, government departments, as well as the general director of SLNMP, Pascal Pinet.

A dedicated committee for the Poussan viaduct

“The Territorial Dialogue Commission will participate in the emergence and consolidation of local projects around the line by carrying out dedicated territorial engineering”, indicates the Occitanie Region in a press release.

The main topic discussed during this September installation session: that of the Poussan viaduct, of which the mayor Florence Sanchez is a member of the commission. A work "of importance and great impact for the territory of Thau", for which a dedicated committee will be set up, "composed of State services, communities and environmental and heritage associations, responsible for monitoring the public consultation system", the Region announced.

"Involving residents"

This collegiate mechanism, starting this fall and until the choice of the architect (which will be the subject of an international competition in 2028), will give rise to “various public meetings, digital consultations and citizen workshops to involve residents as much as possible in its creation, in order to build a work of art that respects its environment and the identity of the territory”.

On the occasion of this first meeting, the commission has already identified several projects to study, such as the service to the Sète and Agde train stations, knowledge and protection of water resources, the enhancement of sites and the attractiveness of the territory, or the improvement of housing that will be impacted. As a reminder, locally, the association Alerte LGV Thau (ALT, based in Poussan) was formed to obtain a different route than the one currently chosen. ALT continues to warn about the environmental, economic, heritage and landscape risks of such a project.

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