Dix-sept personnes ont participé au premier atelier citoyen sur la Ligne Nouvelle Montpellier-Perpignan, ce samedi, à Poussan. Midi Libre – Patrice Espinasse
Ils étaient finalement dix-sept à participer au premier des trois ateliers citoyens organisés par SNCF Réseaux, ce samedi 11 janvier. Objectif : donner un avis éclairé sur le projet de viaduc de Poussan, ouvrage majeur de la future Ligne Nouvelle Montpellier-Perpignan.
There was Yvan, a musician; Charlie, a high school student, who came with his sister and father; Laurent, a nursing home director; Alexandre, a nurse; Julie, a mother, the closest to the future viaduct; Cédrick, president of a neighborhood committee. And also Eric, a beekeeper; Pierre, a printer; Élisa, an event organizer; Gilberte, a retiree; Rémi, a student…
So there were seventeen of them gathered this Saturday, January 11, in the Odéon room in Poussan. Seventeen volunteers with different, even very different, profiles, interests and knowledge of the project. All wanted to participate in the citizen workshops organized by SNCF Réseaux and give their opinion on the future Poussan viaduct, a major structure on the New Montpellier-Perpignan Line (LNMP).
Seventeen, this was not the twenty-four registered and even less the forty initially announced.“We were hoping that there would be more volunteers after the public meetings. But only seven signed up. And four confirmed”, explains Stéphane Lubrano, LNMP project director.
“We have no intention of participating in coloring workshops”
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The others were recruited by a firm. When they arrived, this group, where no one knew each other, “has no intention of participating in a coloring workshop” as opponents of the approach and the project called it. Upon arrival, it is even supposed to provide an informed and enlightening opinion on the viaduct, its architecture, its landscape integration, its nuisances… in order to enrich the specifications.
While it is not composed of any experts, it will therefore have three days of work to form a very precise opinion on this locally highly contested structure, 30 meters high, 1,440 meters long, rising above the Clachs area, and whose cost is, for the time being, estimated at between 60 and 80 million euros.
Multiple questions
To achieve this, SNCF Réseaux has provided a support team, made up of engineers, civil engineering architects, landscapers, etc. This Saturday, after the usual presentations, the participants were able to share their initial questions. “What will be the impact of the work on a daily basis ?” “How often will it pass ?” “What will be the impact of the viaduct on heritage, public health, and daily life ?” “What guarantees are there for the results of the noise reduction measures ?” “How can we make this structure a work of art ?”… But also: “What is the probability that our recommendations will be taken into account ?” “What respect for consultation, in the end ?”
In the afternoon, the “club of seventeen” was able to travel by minibus to the nearby site that is supposed to host the future viaduct. Each participant also determined which experts – “independent”, SNCF Réseaux promises – they would request for the second meeting, scheduled for March 15. “Everyone should be able to ask all the questions they want”, assures Stéphane Lubrano. Adding: “These are not gimmicky meetings or coloring workshops. Sometimes, we have been accused of lacking transparency. But on this project, the desire is really to build with the territory […] We know that this project has impacts.Many things can change or be taken into account for the design of the Poussan viaduct.”
“There cannot be a single SNCF line”
Asked about the unanimous position of the fourteen mayors of Sète Agglopôle, who wrote to former Prime Minister Michel Barnier demanding a complete review of the project, Stéphane Lubrano wanted to shed some light on the railway lines. “Over the entire Mediterranean arc, we have need a line double. The current classic line is already saturated at peak times, while there is a desire to double or even triple freight traffic. The new line that will be rebuilt will not be able to replace the current one. There cannot be just one line. We need two. And we must work with Sète Agglopôle to develop the classic line and make it resilient to climate change."
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