“Brush clearing operation this Tuesday, December 17th late morning at Laissac station. PRESS CENTER – C.C
A well-attended mobilization at the call of the CGT railway workers' federation of Rodez and Millau. PRESS CENTER – C.C
Around fifty people gathered at the (disused) Laissac station on Tuesday, December 17, late in the morning. It was at the call of the CGT railway workers' federation that local elected officials, associations and professionals mobilized to symbolically upgrade the Rodez-Millau line that the Region no longer plans to rehabilitate for the time being.
Brush cutters almost covered the tone of the speeches yesterday, after 11 o'clock: at Laissac station. Around fifty people, railway workers who came at the call of the CGT, but also local elected officials and associations, crowded onto the platforms in front of a railway line eaten away by vegetation. The words of the President of the Region, Carole Delga, made the rail professionals jump first, the CGT reacting at the very beginning of the week, on the desire expressed by the regional authority, to suspend investments for the rehabilitation of the railway line between Rodez and Millau.
Stopped in 2017 by Réseau Ferré de France (RFF) due to unprofitability, this line was the subject of a priority relaunch by the regional council, proposing a reopening for 2030. It seems that the budgetary situation has changed, the project is no longer on the agenda. This Tuesday morning, tools in hand, the CGT railway workers, as they had planned, used the brush cutter to free the tracks from vegetation at Laissac station, which was sold some time ago, due to lack of allocation since 2017.
“No question of us being forgotten”
A symbol, coupled above all with a strong desire to convince the State and the Region to put the infrastructure back into operation. “It's been 70 years since anything has been invested in this line, meaning decades of insufficient resources allocated by the State” explains Frédéric Konefal (CGT Cheminots Rodez), alongside his counterpart from Millau, Frédéric Laur. “The territorial consultation, the States General of Rail and Mobility, launched by the Region planned to do this to reopen it. And now, we are going to miss out once again, it is no longer sustainable, especially since it is vital for Occitanie in more ways than one. There is no question of us being forgotten”.
And to put forward the figure of €79 to €103 million, “which is less than announced to relaunch the line, a moderate sum because nothing has been done here for seven decades. And we have denounced estimates weighed down by non-rail operations, as well as the weight of unacceptable standards for a simple renovation of an infrastructure without changing the route”.
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000J.-L. Gibelin: “If the project is suspended it is because of the state”
The announcement by the president of the Occitanie region, Carole Delga, to suspend the investments planned to relaunch the train line between Rodez and Millau, as well as between Limoux and Quillan, did not fail to provoke reactions. Whether from user associations or railway workers' unions. Jean-Luc Gibelin, regional elected official in charge of transport, quickly clarified that “the Region has no intention of abandoning this line, I do not want there to be any misunderstanding on the subjectt”. “Simply, for the time being, we have put the project on hold while we gain clarity on the government's intentions regarding the savings that will be requested from local authorities, and in particular from the regions”, explains Jean-Luc Gibelin. Indeed, the local authority has learned that it will have to compose its budget with 186 million euros less in allocations, to cover the state deficit. “And contrary to ’Éstate, we have an obligation to present a ’balanced budget", underlines the ’elected official in charge of transport. "Let me be clear, if this project is currently suspended it is not our fault but the responsibility of the Éstate", defends Jean-Luc Gibelin while the amount of work necessary for the repair of the line had been estimated at between 130 and 160 million euros.
“In December 2017, the national management of SCNF Réseau unilaterally decided to suspend traffic on the two lines. Since then, the Region has continued to push for the project to reopen traffic on these lines”, specified the PCF elected representatives of the Region (Pascal Mazet, Jérôme Monamy, from Haute-Garonne and therefore Jean-Luc Gibelin).
The Region prisoner of its budgetary choices ? “We are making the project to upgrade the RN 88 to four lanes weigh on the rail, and that is not right”. The debate is open. For the group against the dual carriageway RN88, “we need to reallocate financial resources to trains and no longer to roads, it was a relevant priority for the Region”, says Marc Gilbert. For David Minerva, mayor of Laissac-Sévérac-l’Église and Edmond Gros, mayor of Sévérac-d’Aveyron, who came to support the scene on Tuesday morning, “we must not pit the two issues against each other”. The two elected officials, who are in favour of the train, are also in favour of the RN88, which is very accident-prone and needs to be doubled… Planned for over thirty years.
Will the Region reverse its decision? ? The CGT railway workers of Rodez and Millau have no intention of giving up in the name of “the usefulness of this line, because the trains are full when they are well positioned, which runs between the east and west of Occitanie for the entire population, as well as for the transport of waste from Millau towards Viviez”, where the Kerea departmental treatment plant is being built.
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