- The region wishes to test, on the TER line between Marseille and Aix, trains with rechargeable batteries.
- It involves transforming existing equipment, an investment that requires two million euros per train, not to mention the electrification of six km of tracks.
- Depending on the region, SNCF Réseau risks making it miss European funding, if the subject is not included in their next investment committee, within a few months.
After Occitania, the Paca region would like to take the train of rechargeable battery trains on the TER line between Aix and Marseille. The project for such "green" trains, without diesel traction, was thus approved at a recent plenary assembly. The ball is now in the court of SNCF Réseau, owner of the electrification works on the line: to run these nine zero emission trains, it is indeed necessary to electrify six kilometers of track (three km around the Saint-Charles station and three other km around Aix-en-Provence station).
But, patatras, the file was not presented during their last investment committee. The anger of the regional president Renaud Muselier was quick to come. In a press release published Thursday evening, he castigated such "procrastination" and said that he directly contacted the director of SNCF, Jean-Pierre Farandou.
"Don't miss the deadline for EU funding"
"It is a pressure put on SNCF Réseau so that they move forward on this file", recognizes Philippe Tabarot, vice-president of the region in charge of transport. The challenge, to hear it, is indeed daunting: "We don't want to lose European Feder funding, and we want there not to be too much difference between the end of work on the line, scheduled for early 2022, and delivery of trains with rechargeable batteries. However, to be on time in order to obtain Feder funds, there would only remain one session of the SNCF Réseau investment committee, which also refused to answer us on this subject.
According to the elected official, more than ten million euros could thus be financed. And the cost to transform the trains of a train into dual-mode (with batteries which would be recharged by catenary on the electrified sections, or by “feeding” in stations) amounts to two million euros per train. Not to mention the investments for the construction of a prototype hydrogen train, in partnership with four other regions.
And the users, what do they think?
If it can be set up, the experimentation of low-carbon trains could see the light of day in 2023 on the Aix-Marseille line. Green trains could also run on the portion of the Pignes train, between Nice and Plan du Var. "The rechargeable battery train is one of the future solutions for rail transport that will allow us to participate in achieving our environmental objectives, defined within the framework of our regional climate plan", assures the region.
"We can only have a positive a priori", for his part greets Gilles Marcel, president of the user association Nos TER PACA, calling however not to lose sight of the substantive subjects: "Aix-Marseille , it is a suburb which should have an intensity of Parisian type, or at least Nice. The priority is to establish a reliable offer and a real pace, which will then make the train prefer to the car. »Not sure that this umpteenth spat between the region and the SNCF reassures users on this point.
Planet
Occitanie: Soon trains with rechargeable batteries to replace diesel railcars
Marseilles
Paca: Can TER competition make users happy?
- Marseilles
- Planet