Supporters of the South-West high-speed rail line are urging Lecornu to "clarify the State's position"

"In your letter of January 12, you rely on the need to wait for the conclusions of the Infrastructure Steering Committee (COI), at the end of March, to continue the State's commitment to the New South-West Line (LNSO)," write the presidents of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Occitanie regions, the metropolitan areas of Bordeaux and Toulouse, and the departmental councils of Haute-Garonne and Landes in a letter sent to AFP.

They are also concerned about "recent statements made by the prefect coordinating the project", Pierre-André Durand, who notably stated during his New Year's address to the press at the end of January that "securing" the financing for this new infrastructure, estimated at 14,3 billion euros in 2020, seemed "difficult".

The French government is to finance 40% of these new lines, which are intended to connect Toulouse to Paris by 2032 in three hours and ten minutes, saving an hour on the current route, and then Dax to Bordeaux in 20 minutes less than the current journey time. Local authorities in Occitanie and Nouvelle-Aquitaine (40%) and the European Union (20%) are to provide the remaining funding.

In this letter of January 12, which AFP has consulted, Mr. Lecornu indicates to the communities of the South-West that "the government will announce its decisions regarding financing" after receiving the conclusions of the COI, a body whose opinion is advisory.

The latter must in particular "study the possible methods of devolution" in order to "guarantee the continuation" of major infrastructure projects "within a framework compatible with our trajectory of recovery of public funding".

According to the newspaper Les Échos, citing a source close to the COI, this council would favour "reprioritising" the various infrastructure projects and "supporting the modernisation of existing infrastructure" in view of the country's debt.

Former Minister of Transport and current President of the France Ambition Transports conference, Dominique Bussereau, argued last month for opening the project to private capital, within the framework of a public-private partnership (PPP).

The elected officials in favor of the high-speed rail line once again reject in their letter this "obsolete" arrangement, "which would cost the project 7 billion and two years", and request "an urgent meeting" with Mr. Lecornu to "clarify the State's position".

"While the European Union continues to make a financial commitment to the LNSO, using a French budgetary failure as a pretext would be a fundamental strategic error," they add, assuring that annual funding "probably less than 100 million euros, via extra-budgetary and additional resources" is "within reach."

The cost of the project is one of the main arguments of its opponents, including the Bordeaux city council and the Basque Country agglomeration community, which favour modernising existing lines.

According to the LGV Non merci collective, which points out that the project costing dates back to 2020, before several years of high inflation, the expenses incurred since the start of the construction have already exceeded the initial budget planned for this phase of work by 10%.