ECONOMY • Barcelona awaits its TGV!
Why the French so slow in connecting to Montpellier by TGV Barcelona? Perhaps because they fear competition from the beautiful Catalan.
Within ten years, France will double the mileage of its high-speed rail network. Currently a length of 1847 kilometers, is expected to increase to 4 000 km in 2020. Its priorities are now to connect [the capital] to Rennes via Le Mans, and Bordeaux via Tours and Strasbourg. This development project, decided by the Sarkozy government, does not provide immediate connections with Spain.
Today, we can cover the distance Paris-Nimes in about three hours by TGV. But then, the route to Barcelona is complicated. On the stretch Nimes-Montpellier-Perpignan TGV must move at low speed. The link between Perpignan and the border, near completion, could enter service in 2011. As for the segment border to Barcelona, it should be operational in 2012 (although the tunnels between Barcelona and Girona are not very advanced). Thus, at the moment, the journey from Paris to Barcelona by train remains a figment of the imagination. One day it will take more than six hours, the time it takes for the AVE [TGV Spanish], Barcelona to Seville. The solution is still needed air. The advantages of high speed trains are not yet well established. They have revolutionized the exchange between Madrid and Seville in 1992, when the first AVE line came into service. And they have also revolutionized the connection Barcelona-Madrid in 2007.
We must therefore ask why the incorporation of Spain in the European high speed network is done so slowly. We know that the costs of such infrastructure are high. This could partly explain the delay. But other reasons are put forward. For example, the reluctance of the French partner. Indeed, France, working well with Spain in the fight against terrorism, fear that Hispano-French TGV line will promote Barcelona in a Euro-region too [Pyrenees-Mediterranean] much of which is French territory [French side Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrenees, and Spanish side, Catalonia, Aragon and the Balearic Islands]. Anyway, Madrid must redouble its efforts on two fronts. Inside, ensuring that the development of the AVE in Spain is growing rapidly. And abroad, asking the French authorities to pay greater attention to the Spanish bonds. We sometimes hear lamentations about the complexity of European unification. We bet that a European TGV network large enough to act in this regard as the best incentives.
ECONOMY • Barcelona awaits its TGV!
Why the French so slow in connecting to Montpellier by TGV Barcelona? Perhaps because they fear competition from the beautiful Catalan.
Within ten years, France will double the mileage of its high-speed rail network. Currently a length of 1847 kilometers, is expected to increase to 4 000 km in 2020. Its priorities are now to connect [the capital] to Rennes via Le Mans, and Bordeaux via Tours and Strasbourg. This development project, decided by the Sarkozy government, does not provide immediate connections with Spain.
Today, we can cover the distance Paris-Nimes in about three hours by TGV. But then, the route to Barcelona is complicated. On the stretch Nimes-Montpellier-Perpignan TGV must move at low speed. The link between Perpignan and the border, near completion, could enter service in 2011. As for the segment border to Barcelona, it should be operational in 2012 (although the tunnels between Barcelona and Girona are not very advanced). Thus, at the moment, the journey from Paris to Barcelona by train remains a figment of the imagination. One day it will take more than six hours, the time it takes for the AVE [TGV Spanish], Barcelona to Seville. The solution is still needed air. The advantages of high speed trains are not yet well established. They have revolutionized the exchange between Madrid and Seville in 1992, when the first AVE line came into service. And they have also revolutionized the connection Barcelona-Madrid in 2007.
We must therefore ask why the incorporation of Spain in the European high speed network is done so slowly. We know that the costs of such infrastructure are high. This could partly explain the delay. But other reasons are put forward. For example, the reluctance of the French partner. Indeed, France, working well with Spain in the fight against terrorism, fear that Hispano-French TGV line will promote Barcelona in a Euro-region too [Pyrenees-Mediterranean] much of which is French territory [French side Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrenees, and Spanish side, Catalonia, Aragon and the Balearic Islands]. Anyway, Madrid must redouble its efforts on two fronts. Inside, ensuring that the development of the AVE in Spain is growing rapidly. And abroad, asking the French authorities to pay greater attention to the Spanish bonds. We sometimes hear lamentations about the complexity of European unification. We bet that a European TGV network large enough to act in this regard as the best incentives.
ECONOMY • Barcelona awaits its TGV!
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