Question 11766 — rail transport

Summary

M. Éric Alauzet attire l'attention de Mme la ministre, auprès du ministre d'État, ministre de la transition écologique et solidaire, chargée des transports, sur le potentiel des trains intercités de nuits transversaux. We must first salute the Government for the priority given to the regeneration of the traditional railway network. The work of the Infrastructure Orientation Council (COI) confirms that the construction of new high-speed lines does not can be carried out on all connections. Dans ces conditions, l'offre longue distance gagnera à redonner de l'importance aux trains intercités de jour et de nuit. Furthermore, decision-making circles, often very centered on Paris, have focused investments on radial lines. Pourtant, 81% des Français habitent hors Île-de-France et ils ont besoin de se déplacer dans toutes les directions. During transverse movements, train travel times tend to be long. For example, from Besançon, it takes almost 7 hours to reach Nice, Toulouse or Brest and more than 8 hours to Pau or Tarbes. These are the best times available. In practice, real times are often higher due to connections. In addition, Besançon and other cities or territories do not have an airport. The coach is not very comfortable for distances of 600 at 1000 km. It is slow, with an average speed around 75 km/h for such distances. The night train would therefore be ideal for traveling to remote towns. Besançon is therefore not an isolated case and the remote medium-sized towns are, in fact, disconnected from each other, more particularly towards the south of France, which is more mountainous and poorly served by high-speed rail. SNCF estimates that transverse connections benefit from less travelers because the population areas there are smaller. And yet, the figures available up to 2016 seem to show that revenues and attendance for transverse night trains are at the same level as radials. The night train takes a larger market share there because there are few competitive air or LGV services for these trips. It has been argued that night trains are loss-making. But the “ deficit” comes in part from insufficient, or even poor, quality of service. Intriguing point to note: foreign operators consider that the night train can be self-financing. Some in-depth reflection seems necessary. Also, he asks if the Government could consider rethinking this subject and a comparative study, including environmental externalities, of the different scenarios for connecting cities. medium distances from each other, by aviation, night trains or the construction of high-speed lines.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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