150 to 200 people demonstrated on Wednesday 27th June in front of the station of Châteaubriant (Loire-Atlantique), to rescue the rail link to Rennes.
If the 150 to 200 railwaymen gathered on the forecourt of the station of Châteaubriant (Loire-Atlantique) have, above all, put forward their fight in course against the railway reform carried out by the Government, they also evoked the problem of the secondary lines in general and from the line between Rennes and Châteaubriant in particular.
The file is not new. According to the statement of the Inter-Union organizing the event of the 27th June, 2018, the disengagement of the State concerning this line dates back to 1959!
“The gradual abandonment of the Rennes-Châteaubriant line has led to the implementation of slowdowns on three parts of this line and significantly longer travel times. This situation deprives many users in terms of TGV connections to Rennes.
“1h25 to do the 45 km between Martigné-Ferchaud and Rennes”
According to a participant of the Accret (1): “In the 1970s, from Martigné-Ferchaud (Ille-et-Vilaine) , it took 1 hour to perform the 45 km. Since the three slowdowns at 40 km/h, set up in 2016 by the SNCF following the observation of obsolescence of the track, it is necessary at this moment to yake 1 hour and 25 minutes from Martigné to reach the capital of Brittany, by bus, then by train. If you have the chance to find a connection, the TGV Atlantique will then take you in an additional 1 h 25 in Paris.
This member of the collective defense of this line Châteaubriant – Rennes continued: “The Martignolais, like the Castelbriantais, have only two trains possible between 6 am and 12 pm, to reach Rennes. The line has been cut in Retiers (Ille-et-Vilaine) since August 2017. And we know that its reopening which was scheduled for August 27, 2018 will not happen “
A phase of work between Retiers and Châteaubriant without dates
However, “the Department of Ille-et-Vilaine will have respected its commitments, since the two bridges to cross the line will be completed. […] We are waiting for the vote of 7 million euros promised by the Region of Pays de Loire to concretize the financing of work on the entire line. This is the condition for the Department of Ille-et-Vilaine and the Community of communes to confirm their participation in this work. ”
he inter-union, meanwhile, points out that “despite the commitments made in the 2015-2020 state-region plan contract, as part of a total renovation of the course for 40 million euros, they were cut into two portions: a first renovation phase between Retiers and Rennes starting in March 2019; a second phase of Retiers at Châteaubriant whose realization is uncertain to date.
(1) Citizen Association Châteaubriant-Rennes by train: it affects “nearly a thousand users”, according to its representative, and has “nearly 150 members”.
Those interested in joining the Accret can inquire by email at accret35@gmail.com.
Alain Hunault defends the Region and blames the State
Present at the demonstration of the railwaymen, the mayor of Châteaubriant Alain Hunault spoke about the line Châteaubriant-Rennes, defending the work done within the Region Pays de la Loire ( he was vice-president in charge of transport, mobility and infrastructure from December 2015 to May 2017) and postponing the grievances on the State, accused of not respecting its commitments:
“When the line Nantes-Châteaubriant was reopened In 2014, it was studied the lengthening of the quays to the north, to accommodate the TER of Rennes. It appeared the urgency of a renovation on the Rennes-Châteaubriant line. […]
The current uncertainty is linked to the fact that the State, through SNCF Réseau, has let the secondary lines die. The Pays de la Loire region intervened on several lines, in particular between Clisson and Cholet. However, the State never gave the Region the necessary funds for this work, so that the Region had to make advance of these credits for a few weeks. The Region says: we want to intervene but we can not fund everything instead of the state, “said the mayor.
Alain Hunault also recalled that recently, “the Community of Commons of Châteaubriant-Derval voted a credit of one million euros for the work of Rennes-Châteaubriant. But there is no question that the state does not intervene also for this work.
According to its information, the State did indeed plan to refund the sums advanced by the Region for the Cholet-Clisson line. “From there, I hope that the Region will vote credits for the portion between Retiers and Châteaubriant. It is a question of solidarity and spatial planning.
