a Sudden brake to the HSL ? The high-speed line Paris-Toulouse may be postponed to the Greek calends, or even a purely adjourned if the list Archipelago, coalition mixed – Greens to the Untamed, by way of the yellow Vests – led by the EELV Antoine Maurice, wins the second round of the municipal on June 28.

The HSL, it is an old sea serpent, and a revolution expected for years by the rose City since it would put it at 1 hour from Bordeaux and 3 h 10 Paris, instead of 4: 25 today, or even more often than 6 hours. What, also, compete with the air route Paris-Toulouse (1: 20), the environmental cost is higher.

The metropolis of Occitania, which is developed with aviation, had been hitherto neglected by the high-speed network, but the launch of the site is now expected in 2022 for commissioning in 2029. "Toulouse would be the last regional capital (with The Harbour) which would be connected to the network of high-speed railway," says its current mayor and candidate to his re-election, Jean-Luc Moudenc (LR).

Apple of discord

The path has been chosen, the host cities have been determined, the land acquisitions have been made. "The record has always been the subject of a broad political consensus and regional, joining Jean-Luc Moudenc, which bears on the case for 2014, and its counterparts in bordeaux Alain Juppé and Nicolas Florian, but also the presidents, all socialists, of the regions, the Aquitaine, Alain Rousset, and the Occitan Martin Malvy first, and the one who succeeded him, Carole Delga. The president of the region of Occitania, defended already in front of us the folder in 2016, arguing : "When Bordeaux will not be more than two hours from Paris, it will be a lack of competitiveness shouting for Toulouse. "A subject that weighs so heavy in the future potential support that the socialist would bring to the list Archipelago.

As Antoine Maurice is not on the same wavelength. "I prefer high-speed trains a high-speed railway that never happens," says Green, who distinguishes between high-speed trains circulating on the present lane and the construction of a new line between Bordeaux and Toulouse to save time on the journey to Paris. "We are all for higher speed trains, but not only to the capital," adds the elected green in also evoking connections to Barcelona or Montpellier.

Good, but too expensive

environmentalists of EELV being, like their allies the Rebellious, reluctant to commit the billions needed to gain a few more minutes, the head of the list of Archipelago has found a new argument budget to put the brakes on a four-irons. "The HSL that we are promised for the past 35 years is not done, because it is too expensive and that the State, which had financed the first lines to 100 %, is now reluctant to pay, and turns more and more towards local communities. "

For Antoine Maurice, the LGV is as the project of the third metro line : it's good, but it is (too) expensive ; in short, this is not the first priority. He prefers " trains daily ". It should convince Carole Delga, who, on his side, did not budge. Impossible to add new trains without building a new line, repeated on all tones, the president of the region. Dialogue of the deaf in perspective...

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Since the Archipelago has received the backing of the PS local, Antoine Maurice added a last argument to tax his opposition to the HSL. He is critical of the idea of the mayor of Toulouse, which has proposed to the minister Elizabeth Terminal a new tax on the construction of offices to finance the work. "Jean-Luc Moudenc still wants to create an additional tax, it is the king of the" tax, attack the leader of the greens.

Without the dodge, the mayor of Toulouse démine : "It is possible to create a company dedicated to as to the Great Paris ", underlines Jean-Luc Moudenc. That is sure to go in the direction of the story. "This is a fight of long standing, says the elected, which repairs an anachronism, a deficiency on the map of France, part of the logic, the subject of a political consensus, and in the current context becomes more than necessary : with the job crisis is on the horizon, it would be sheer folly to pass the LGV. "A battle of the rail Twenty-first century version.