French regions will be forced to “close the railway lines” if the State passes on to them the surge in electricity prices. This is the warning issued by the president of the regional council of the Grand Est region, Jean Rottner (LR).
“From 2024, it is 8% additional toll on the regions”, declared the head of the regional executive during an interview with journalists, before a Thursday session of the regional council in Strasbourg (Bas -Rhine). “There, we say stop, we can’t”.
The Minister of Transport, Clément Beaune, indicated last month that the State did not envisage a priori aid for the regions, which are committed by contract to cover the increase in energy prices for public transport that they organize, like the TERs.
An additional electricity cost of around 850 million euros
“Many regional presidents are saying that if at some point there is not some form of questioning of the system (…), we are going to our loss, that is to say that we are going to close the lines, clearly, ”warns Rottner.
The president of the SNCF, Jean-Pierre Farandou, estimated the additional cost of the electricity bill between 1.6 and 1.7 billion euros in 2023. Half of this additional cost is attributable to regional trains, i.e. around 850 millions of euros. However, the Prime Minister, Élisabeth Borne, when she was Minister of Transport, demanded in 2018 that SNCF Réseau, the manager of French railways, obtain a positive cash flow from 2024.
Jean Rottner has also indicated that his region will “start paying again” what it owes to the SNCF, after announcing last April a suspension of payments for the operation of the TER network. The regional president then denounced “dysfunctions” in the service. “There are a number of improvements that have been made” since, he said.