FRANCE: The government has agreed a €3∙5bn funding package to launch the first two phases of the long-planned upgrade of the route along the Mediterranean coast between Marseille and Nice, including sections of new line.
The main objective of the package of works is to relieve congestion in and around Marseille, Toulon and Nice. One of the biggest individual schemes will be the construction of an underground through station in Marseille below the existing Saint-Charles terminus. A new station for TGV services will be built close to the airport at Nice and infrastructure provided for a TER shuttle service in the Toulon area.
The agreement announced at a meeting with local representatives on April 19 envisages a 20% contribution from the European Union for what is now termed the Ligne Nouvelle Provence-Côte d’Azur. The remaining costs would be shared between the state and local authorities, including the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, the départements of Bouches du Rhône, Alpes-Maritimes and Var, and the métropoles of Aix-Marseille-Provence, Nice-Côte d’Azur and Toulon-Provence-Méditerranée. The government will contribute 40%, or around €1∙38bn at July 2020 prices, which would be matched by a similar contribution from the various local government bodies.
The local authorities plan to establish an organisation by September or October to manage the project as envisaged in the 2019 Loi d’Orientation des Mobilités. In the meantime, preparatory works are underway for a formal public enquiry to begin towards the end of this year.
The government’s decision to fund the initial part of LNPCA follows periods of consultation on specific issues, requested by Transport Minister Jean-Baptiste Djébbari in June 2020.
The first of these covered the stations at Cannes-La Bocca, La Pauline and a new station west of Toulon that would act as the terminus of the local shuttle service.
The second, which concluded on April 15, dealt with the underground station at Marseille and the eastern and northern portals of the associated tunnel, the junction with the Cannes – Grasse line, a fourth track between La Blancarde and La Penne-sur-Huveaune and works related to the elimination of a level crossing near Saint-André.
For the moment the third and fourth phases of LNPCA remain unfunded. These envisage new construction between Cannes and Nice, a section of new line from Aubagne to Toulon running further inland that the existing route and another stretch of new line from Le Muy near Les Arcs to Cannes.
