Just a few days ago, on September 8, the President Nicholas sarkozy had inaugurated the last of the many high-speed lines that made the TGV famous throughout Europe: the Rhin-Rhone. In his speech, Sarko had emphasized the great success of the train loved by all the French: “The TGV is France. And it's everyone's effort. The train is loved by the people and belongs to all of them, without distinction”.
Apart from the decidedly Gaullist tones of the speech, Sarkozy, while paying due homage to the train which is an icon of technological progress and the efficiency of the French public service, however forgot to mention the mountain of debts that the State has inherited from the management of the TGV in these 30 years. Disastrous management to say the least, and exactly proportional to the number of passengers, in continuous growth: since 1981, in fact, over 1,7 billion passengers have boarded the symbol of industrial excellence. And without any accidents. In short, a real plebiscite.
But how much does all this cost the State, and therefore the citizens themselves? According to reports Challenges.fr, we are almost there 40 billion euros. debt of the French Railway Network (RFF) was already around 1997 billion in 20, while in 2011 it was close to 30 billion. To which must be added the 9 billion debt of SNCF, the other company that manages the traffic. Despite this, RFF continues to build and invest: in 2012 there will be 4 new construction sites, TGV Est, Tours-Bordeaux, Le Mans-Rennes, Nimes-Montpellier, for a total expenditure of 15 billion euros! Even more disarming if you consider that the routes covered are not those of large cities, so it is not possible to expect a large flow of passengers.
The same MEP Hervé Mariton, from the Finance Committee, said that the traffic on the Tours-Bordeaux will barely cover 50% of its cost. How do the companies in question now intend to resolve the matter? Obviously, by making it weigh directly on the passengers themselves, with ticket increases of almost +12%. But above all asking for yet another help from mother France: the SNCF, in fact, has already threatened the State to close some routes (including the Paris-Arras and the Lille-Strasbourg, quite nerve-wracking and frequent), thus leaving the problem to the public administration which will have to justify the serious disservice to the citizens.
