TRANSPORTS According to local authorities, with 670 stops per day, Strasbourg will become “the largest TER station” in France
Strasbourg, December 7, 2022. — PHILEMON HENRY/SIPA
Be careful at the start: the trains of the “European Metropolitan Express Network” (Reme) begin to circulate this Sunday at; Strasbourg. The city thus inaugurates the first RER outside Ile-de-France, hailed by elected officials but criticized by the railway workers for the delays in the arrival of material and human resources.
Two weeks after Emmanuel Macron’s announcement of his ambition to develop an RER network “in ten major urban areas” tropole de Strasbourg materialize their project initiated in 2018. This consists of a “supply shock” with 800 additional trains per week initially, and more than 1,000 additional trains in from the summer of 2023, i.e. a 43% increase in the transport offer on the network linking 95 stations.
5 hour trains to; 11 p.m.
With 670 stops per day, Strasbourg becomes “the largest TER station” of France, also insure local authorities. The working hours are extended, from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. 11 p.m., with trains every 15 minutes at peak times in 13 stations in the agglomeration. A novelty, “diametricization”, offers the possibility of to connect two cities of the metropolis without correspondence to; Strasbourg.
However, this new transport offer worries the SNCF unions, which point to delays in the delivery of trains and the recruitment of staff. “We weren’already getting there. not to ensure the 2022 transport plan without the Reme, we have respected it; to the optimum only 15 days a year. So 130 additional trains daily, at constant or almost constant staff, we will not get there,” laments Alexandre Welsch, delegate. SOUTH-Rail. “The new drivers are in training. We would probably have had to postpone for 6 or 8 months, so that we had all the manpower and equipment available”.
Already; 700 million euros of investment
In total, the project required “700”million euros” investments according to Jean Rottner, the LR president of the Regional Council. The Reme should still mobilize 600 million euros “over the next five years”, in particular to develop new services to Germany. Operating costs, net of revenue, are estimated at 14.5 million euros per year, divided between equality between the region and the Eurometropolis.