2023-12-23 18:02:56
Preparatory work for a section of the future Creil-Roissy rail link will begin in January. But the file is not yet completely finalized or certain – Illustrative photo: Fabrice Alves-Teixeira / Oise Hebdo
“The SNCF Réseau awards NGE and Egis the design-construction of the Roissy-Picardie link. The announcement made this week by NGE-Egis, a group of companies, brought a smile back to those who one day despaired of seeing the Creil-Roissy barthese 6.5 km of railway tracks intended to connect Creil et Amiens at the TGV hub in Ile-de-France. The end of a sea serpent?
“It’s a slightly premature announcement from the group of companies,” says Christophe Coulon, vice-president of the Hauts-de-France regional council in charge of the file. The one who succeeded Franck Dhersin for transport in Lille wants to be cautious: “We are talking regarding a project costing 50 million out of a total of 470 and everything is not yet finalized in this file,” he notes. The elected official is thinking in particular of the financing which has not yet been completed.
“The good news is the stated desire not to fall behind and to put ourselves in the conditions to be able to launch the project in 2024 for delivery in 2027,” he continues, in clear terms: SNCF Réseau is preparing to be on time, and that’s a positive sign, even if it’s a risk.” In a file where everyone promised liaison, recently the Minister of Transport Clément Beaune, before him President Macron, before them Prime Minister Manuel Valls, regional elected officials have learned not to celebrate too early: “I remember when Manuel Valls came to tell us that everything was financed, that there were no more obstacles, it was false,” berates the vice-president of Hauts-de-France.
Still waiting for 80 million from Europe
In the case of the bar, what has stuck for a long time – and still stuck – is financing. Europe recently refused a grant of 80 million euros. “We are talking regarding a certain amount, nevertheless,” underlines Christophe Coulon, “France is going to submit a third request for funds – we are lucky to be able to make a third request – and we hope that this time the file will be correctly presented “. What if Europe refused? “Everyone would once once more have to make a financial effort to compensate,” he emphasizes. A bit as was the case for the Seine-Nord Europe Canal. “But for the Canal, the Region took control of the file, for this file, that is not the case,” remarks Christophe Coulon. Which explains his caution.
Vice-president of the Hauts-de-France regional council, Christophe Coulon is in charge of Transport – Photo: Hauts-de-France
From January, work will begin to create a portion of the future connection, in Val-d’Oise. However, we should not expect to see the workers laying the rails of the bar straight away: “We are talking here regarding preparatory work for the work, which includes studies, particularly on the environmental impacts, which is done each time in this kind of big projects,” specifies the elected official. All under the overall project management of SNCF network.
Despite his caution, Christophe Coulon does not want to appear pessimistic: “The good news is that we are not going backwards, and we should have new announcements to make in the first two months of the year.” Despite everything, the bar has never seemed so concrete…
Expected from Creil to Amiens
This bar, expected since the end of the 2000s, will connect Amiens and Creil to Roissy where many Isarians work. But above all to connect these cities to the TGV network, making it possible to considerably shorten the distances between the Picardy capital, Oise, and the rest of the country. If today a high-speed line crosses Picardy, no station serves the Oise and only one, in the middle of the fields at Ablaincourt-Presssoir, serves the Somme.
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