The commission, appointed by the administrative court of Melun and which submitted its report at the beginning of May to the prefecture of Val-de-Marne, considers that if the objective "presents indeed a character of general interest, the balance advantages/disadvantages of all of the criteria unquestionably lean towards the disadvantages that such a project would generate".
The project provides for the creation of a tunnel approximately 5 km long, three new stations (Les Rigollots, Grands Pêchers and Val-de-Fontenay) and a train repair center behind the station in the town of Neuilly -Plaisance. The objective is to open up several districts of Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne and to reduce the carbon footprint of their inhabitants.
The commission considers that the project is both too expensive (1,7 billion euros), that the work has already been delayed, that it harms the environment. It also points to the risk of flooding linked to the proximity of a water table.
“We are going to look at the conclusions of the investigating commissioner and respond to them so that this project can be done,” a spokesperson for Ile-de-France Mobilités (IDFM) told AFP.
For the regional transport authority, "this project is vital because it makes it possible to open up the east of Vincennes, the south of Montreuil and Fontenay-sous-Bois in lack of public transport".
"This is a real shock for the elected representatives of this sector and for the thousands of people who support this extension and are waiting for solutions to their travel difficulties in a context of climate emergency", reacted the communist group to the regional council, asking that IDFM include the issue on the agenda of its next board of directors, on May 25.
The cities that would be served by this project are already connected with the RER A and E, and eventually with line 15 of the Grand Paris metro and the extension of the T1 tramway, notes the commission of inquiry.
Line 1 should nevertheless carry some 95.000 additional passengers per day with the planned extension. The work was scheduled to be carried out between 2028 and 2035.
This project has been agitating eastern Paris for several months, by confronting supporters of public transport with defenders of century-old trees.
The public inquiry was organized from January 31 to March 2 in the XNUMXth arrondissement of Paris, as well as in Vincennes, Fontenay-sous-Bois, Montreuil and Neuilly-Plaisance.
"Arm of honor"
For the regional transport authority, "this project is vital because it makes it possible to open up the east of Vincennes, the south of Montreuil and Fontenay-sous-Bois in lack of public transport".
The dossier submitted with the RATP envisages the construction of three new stations (Les Rigollots, Grands-Pêchers and Val-de-Fontenay) and a train repair center behind the station in the town of Neuilly-Plaisance.
The idea is to directly serve densely populated neighborhoods, a little away from the RER A, and to connect line 1 to the Val-de-Fontenay pole with the RER A and E, line 15 of the Grand Paris and the extension of the T1 tramway.
IDFM and the RATP expect 95.000 passengers per day on this extension when it opens, expected by 2035.
The project has been agitating eastern Paris for several months, by confronting supporters of public transport with defenders of century-old trees. Petitions, demonstrations and (counter-)citizen mobilization animated the public inquiry, organized from January 31 to March 2.
"This is a real shock for the elected representatives of this sector and for the thousands of people who support this extension and are waiting for solutions to their travel difficulties in a context of climate emergency", reacted Tuesday the communist group. to the regional council.
"We take note of this opinion but we take it as an arm of honor given to the inhabitants of our neighborhoods and more generally of eastern Paris," Gaylord Le Checker, first deputy mayor of Montreuil, told AFP. regretting that the commission did not issue at least a favorable opinion with reservations on certain aspects allowing work to continue on the project.
"There is something totally anachronistic", he added, judging that the commission of inquiry is in fact calling on "residents of working-class neighborhoods to continue to use cars at a time when the price of the "petrol is flaming", while no alternative is offered "except to pile up in buses".
The city of Neuilly-Plaisance, opposed to the construction of a workshop on its soil beyond the planned terminus, for its part hailed "a first victory".