Europe 1 with AFP 1:15 p.m., March 24, 2022

The vice-president of the Hauts-de-France region in charge of mobility told AFP on Thursday that the region would open all of its TER lines to competition within 18 months, expanding an offer covering half of the network.

Four groups, including SNCF, have already applied for the first batch.

The Hauts-de-France region will open all of its TER lines to competition within 18 months, expanding an offer covering half of the network so far, its vice-president in charge of mobility told AFP on Thursday. Frank Dhersin.

A deliberation in this sense was adopted Tuesday in the permanent committee, supported by the only right-wing majority, "we are going 100%", said Franck Dhersin, confirming information from the

Courrier Picard

.

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The four candidates interested in the first batch

"We have decided not to waste time given the situation of the TER in the region (...), where traffic and management are bad, we no longer support the monopoly situation of the SCNF", a- he noted.

The region had suspended its payments to SNCF in December, citing malfunctions, delays and train cancellations on the TER network.

She decided to resume them on March 16, taking note of an “improvement” but considering that the SNCF had only done “half of the way”.

The new calls for tenders, relating in particular to the high-speed TER lines, a regional feature, must be launched "within the next 18 months", said Franck Dhersin.

Four candidates - SNCF, the French transport group Transdev, Régionéo which brings together RATP Dev and Getlink and the Spanish company Renfe - have already applied for the first batch, known as Etoile d'Amiens, which will be awarded in 2025 , he detailed.

Other prizes awarded from 2026

The three other redesigned lots - Paris-Beauvais and the Paris radials, the Etoile de Saint-Pol and the Nord-Pas-de-Calais lines, and the TER-GV will be allocated respectively in 2026, 2027 and 2028, for periods of six to nine years.

If European law imposes competition for regional rail traffic from December 2023, it is possible for refractory regions to save time by resigning agreements with the SNCF, before December 25, 2023 and for a period of up to at ten, according to Franck Dhersin.