South-West LGV: green light for the preparatory site south of Bordeaux

A new step forward. The environmental authorization allowing the completion of railway developments south of Bordeaux, prior to the construction of the high-speed line (LGV) to Toulouse itself expected in 2028, was signed on Friday, announced the prefecture of Nouvelle-Aquitaine.

“This decision constitutes the last stage of the environmental authorization process launched at the end of January 2023. It will allow SNCF Réseau, the project owner, to start work on the Bordeaux Toulouse rail link as part of the Great Southern Railway Project. -West (GPSO),” specifies the prefecture in a press release.

Paris Toulouse in 3h10

The LGV aims to connect Toulouse to Paris in three hours and ten minutes by 2032, saving one hour on the current route. A branch crossing the east of the Landes forest should connect Dax to Bordeaux in twenty minutes less and, one day, allow direct connections with Spain.

The project is expected to cost a minimum of 14.3 billion euros, financed by the State, local authorities and the European Union.

The LGV is widely supported by communities in Occitanie, but, in New Aquitaine, the project – born in the 1990s and relaunched since 2020 – arouses long-standing and protean opposition, mixing local elected officials and parliamentarians, residents, foresters and wine growers.

Last Saturday, a thousand demonstrators mobilized in Gironde to denounce what they described as a “large, useless” and “deadly” project, which according to them would lead to the artificialization of around 5,000 ha. They prefer the renovation of existing lines to develop “everyday trains”.