The French Council of State has chosen to annul a decision taken last year to go ahead with a high-speed TGV line between Poitiers and Limoges.
Announcing its decision, the council said it felt the “the disadvantages of the project outweighed its benefits” and that the financial and social studies that underpinned the decision were flawed.
On January 10, 2015, the LGV Poitiers-Limoges was declared a public utility. The 131-kilometre line would have connected the LGV Sud-Ouest between Paris and Bordeaux in Poitiers with the Paris-Limoges line.
The Council of State said that it was unclear how the €1.6 billion project would be funded and that it had come under pressure from a number of authorities to annul the ruling.
The body also raised doubts about the benefits of the line. Given parts of the route are single-track, it questioned whether it would be able to achieve on journey times.
The council also raised concerns that the line would move passengers away from the Paris-Orléans-Limoges-Toulouse route, which could lead to the “deterioration in the service” between Orleans and Limoges.
France’s Transport Secretary, Alain Vidal, said a meeting would be held on May 3 to discuss the decision and consider the future of the project.
Wasn’t President Hollande a mayor or MP or something round there? Just saying.