TRE covers the opening of two high speed lines in France on the same day. The L’Oceane and Bretagne Pays de la Loire (LGV BPL) lines, both serving the Atlantic coast of western France, were officially inaugurated.
First was the Ligne a Grande Vitesse – a 302km line from east of Tours to the northern suburbs of Bordeaux. This cost 7.8bn euros plus a further 1.2bn euros for the various chords.
Second was the 184km BPL line from Bordeaux to Rennes, which cost 2.8bn euros plus 600 million euros for the chords.
Journey times from Paris to Bordeaux have been cut by 1hr 10 minutes to 2hr 04, while Paris to Toulouse is now 1hr 11 minutes faster at 4hr 14 minutes.
The Economist claims the lines will do nothing for the economy of the regions they will serve, however the towns and cities served by the TGVs disagree. They believe it gives them an edge when attracting business and tourists, and that the previous journey times handicapped them in this area.
The chords have been built to meet criticism of previous LGV routes where new stations were built away from the cities and towns, however by doing this, time has been added to the journeys.
We're read it in: Today’s Railways Europe, August 2017, Issue 260, Page 12
