Answers to questions.
What is the link between the high-speed line and urban regional express service (RER)?
The construction of the high-speed line will allow the introduction of urban RER services around the conurbations of Toulouse and Bordeaux.
From 2024, two rail development projects are planned around Bordeaux and Toulouse: the rail works south of Bordeaux (AFSB) and the rail works north of Toulouse (AFNT). These projects include the laying of additional tracks to allow more trains to run, the redevelopment of stations and stops on the outskirts of towns and cities, and multimodal interchange hubs. These form the basis for the modernisation of the rail hubs and are essential for the development of urban RER services in the two conurbations. Without these improvements, it will not be possible to provide a quarter-hourly service at peak times because of the variety of trains that use the line (freight, southbound services, intercity services, local services – regional express trains (TERs) and night trains), which run at very different speeds: the existing lines are already saturated.
As in Toulouse, the urban RER service in Bordeaux includes an increase in the number of daily trains to every quarter of an hour, as well as the introduction of through trains to link the outlying communes without changing trains and saving 15 minutes at the central station.
The AFSB will provide services to and from Langon, Marmande and Agen, while the AFNT will provide services to and from Saint-Jory, Montauban and Agen.
Regional high-speed trains
New high-speed services will also link a network of towns within 30 minutes to one hour of Toulouse and Bordeaux, as well as a one-hour service between Toulouse and Bordeaux. Rail operators will thus be able to create ‘regional high-speed services’ linking the whole of the South West: Angoulême, Arcachon, Agen, Captieux, Mont-de-Marsan, Dax, Albi, Cahors, Montauban, Castres, Auch, Castelnaudary, Marmande, etc.