Protest Against LGV High-Speed Line Project Draws Hundreds in Cadaujac

They don’t want the LGV. This Saturday, April 20, the collective ‘LGV Non Merci’ organized a movement in Cadaujac to denounce​​​​a high-speed line project connecting Bordeaux with Dax and Toulouse. More than three hundred people answered the call.

The program ‘La Grande Vadrouille’ is being launched. In the crowd, among the 300 demonstrators, however, Louis de Funès was not there. The tone is also much more serious. Here, in Cadaujac, hundreds of demonstrators from several groups protested against the high-speed line project between Bordeaux, Dax and Toulouse.

Despite the start of work and inspections before the site, the thirteen groups, from five regions and united under the banner ‘LGV Non Merci’ continue their fight. They gathered around 2pm at Cadaujac station, where work on the future line has already started.. “It’s a project that went through a public utility audit that was 90% unfavorable, the State took it over. Our opinion was not asked, it is a rejection of democracy. “ joked Bernard Barrois, one of the demonstrators.

On site, lectures were organized before they toured the town of Cadaujac. “Stops are intended to mark the destruction already done or that such a project would cause”, specifying the assembly. Among them, extermination, destroyed houses or even destruction of wetlands. On one of the houses involved, the names of the main people in the case are written. “It is a house that has already been evicted, and across the street, on one side, the same thing will suffer from the others.”specifies Bernard Barrois.

Damage to homes that affects people as much as animals, according to the groups. The show also ended in an endangered wetland. “People need to be aware of the futility of this project and the other options that have been open for years. This is a huge environmental waste and a waste of money,” asks Stefan, a showman.

Another problem identified by the groups: the cost of the project, estimated at 14 billion euros. “It only serves a small number of people while the majority are left behind, with daily trains not operating. “refers to Laurence, who lived in Langon.

An amount that could be divided by four according to the members of the collections. “Studies on the renewal of the existing lines estimate that the project will cost four billion euros”repeats Bernard Barrois.

All this to go a little faster from one capital to another.

Laurence

LGV assembly member No Thank you

In the collections, others highlight the taxes that the surrounding municipalities have to pay. “We have to pay a tax, the TSE, for forty years. It’s a national project funded by local people.”remembers Bernard Barrois.

As of February 2023, the collection has already performed around ten activities in Aquitaine. Infiltration of the Regional Council, gatherings in the municipalities affected by the future path or even blocking the construction site, of the first works, the associations have been diversifying their activities for a year to stop it.

The guest of our show, Dimanche en Politique, on February 17, Alain Rousset, president of the Department, did not budge. According to him, more than ever, this line is so useful. “We still have to believe. We can criticize the LGV that goes to 320 km / h..

Like the collections, some politicians, including Pierre Hurmic, also deny this project. Local elected officials have also called for a moratorium.

Twenty meters wide, the line should transform more than 120 hectares of agricultural land into gravel pits, to produce the concrete that will be used in the construction of the LGV line. In Gironde, as at the other end of the line in Toulouse, preparatory work has already begun. According to GPSO forecasts, the LGV should see the light of day within six to seven years, around 2032.

The preparatory work, established by the GPSO (Grand Sud-Ouest railway project) began in December in the Gironde at Cadaujac. Others, meanwhile, take place in the northern part of the metropolitan area of ​​Toulouse. In January, the European Union provided an initial envelope of 60 million euros for this work.

In total, the line should cover 327 km between Occitanie and Nouvelle-Aquitaine.