SNCF: between Lyon and Grenoble, Jean Castex announces 110 million euros to stop the repeated delays of a “sick” line
Jean Castex announces a regeneration plan to improve the regularity of a line marked by frequent delays.
Quick Look
The president of SNCF, Jean Castex, announced an investment of 110 million euros by 2031 to renovate the Lyon-Grenoble rail line, whose current regularity is considered insufficient with one train in five late.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
The Lyon-Grenoble line is the ninth TER line in France with 15,000 daily passengers. It suffers from historical underinvestment and a regularity of 80.3%.
“The French increasingly prefer the train and we have to be there.” Visiting Grenoble on Wednesday, Jean Castex, president of the SNCF, announced significant investments on the Lyon-Grenoble line. A “sick line” due to its numerous delays and incidents, underlined the former prime minister. It will receive 110 million euros for the renovation of its infrastructure by 2031. This envelope is in addition to the 43 million euros already invested between 2023 and 2025.
“It’s the ninth TER line in France with 15,000 passengers per day,” said the SNCF boss. Attendance is growing sharply with a quarter of additional passengers between 2019 and 2026. But this line is showing “results which are not good”, assumed Jean Castex. Its regularity is only 80.3%. One train in five experiences at least five minutes of delay. And 1.7% of trains are simply canceled.
In question, the state of the network, in a good third of cases. This is why the envelope committed will go towards its improvement. Work will be launched on switches, rails and level crossings, Jean Castex announced to the local press after a meeting at the prefecture. The tracks will thus be completely renewed between Grenoble and Voiron, for an amount of 12 million euros.
This “regeneration plan” for the line will cause disruption, but it is “essential” according to the boss of the SNCF, who deplores decades of underinvestment in the rail network. The trains themselves, owned by the region, are currently being renovated. A third of the park was last year, the rest will be in the next two years. Enough to limit mechanical breakdowns.
Finally, action will be taken to protect the line, another third of incidents being linked to external causes. “This line is a victim of the acceleration of climate change,” said Jean Castex. There are more falling trees, more animals crossing the tracks and hitting trains,” he said. In addition to improving surveillance, it aims to install fences and cut down dead trees.
What to Watch
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
Complete renovation of the tracks between Grenoble and Voiron.
Very likely · Within months
Open Questions
- What will be the precise impact of the work on daily traffic?
