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Ecologists believe that modernising the existing TGV network would have a lesser environmental impact than the creation of new lines.
"The creation of any new line is disadvantageous to the environment", recognises Jean Sivardière, President of the
National Federation of Transport Users Associations (FNAUT).
In Bresse, for example, the planned
Dijon-Lyon line would have
"irreparable consequences on protected species, entailing, as it would, the destruction of natural areas (classed as ZNIEFF*) and rendering Green Corridors impossible", maintains Thierry Grosjean, President of CAPEN, one of the Saône-et-Loire regional associations that is fighting against the project.
Building rail stations in open countryside is also denounced:
"We are radically opposed to this", explained Mr Sivardière. “Either these make car journeys necessary, and we lose the environmental benefit of the TGV, or there has to be a coach service, but then we lose the time benefit." Despite this,
he added that
"We have to reason over a 20-year period: petrol will be scarce and expensive, the climate will be damaged, and there will be a near authoritarian transfer of road freight towards rail and maritime freight". While still arguing for the
modernisation of existing lines, FNAUT has accepted the majority of the new lines announced in July.
The SNCF*** points out that as far as it is concerned, the construction of lines no longer falls into its remit and refers to that of the French Rail Network (RFF****).
*TGV - French high-speed train
** ZNIEFF – a natural area which is of particular interest in terms of ecology or wildlife
*** SNCF – French national railway company (train operator)
**** RFF – owner of French national rail network/infrastructure
