The CDG Express site threatened by a court decision

The administrative justice partially annulled the inter-prefectural decree authorizing the work of the CDG Express, a fast train which is to link Roissy Charles-de-Gaulle airport to the center of Paris, refuting its “major public interest”, according to a decision consulted Monday by AFP. The administrative court of Montreuil (Seine-Saint-Denis) more specifically canceled the environmental authorization contained in this decree, signed on February 11, 2019 by the prefects of Paris, Seine-Saint-Denis, Seine-et-Marne and Val -d’Oise.

The authorization granted a derogation from the Environmental Code to create the CDG Express, a 32 km link which must connect in 20 minutes the Gare de l’Est, in the center of Paris, to terminal 2 of Roissy airport. , for travelers a ticket at 24 euros. An “essential” link for the economic competitiveness of Paris and Ile-de-France, and to promote the postponement of travel from road to rail, according to the government.

The derogation was based on the sine qua non principle that the railway project responded to “major public interest” and could therefore cross areas where protected species live. However, the court questioned the two main reasons for the project, namely a better service to Roissy and the next Olympic Games in Paris 2024. But its commissioning was postponed to the end of 2025, in order to limit disruptions related to works for the suburban train lines north of Paris, in particular the RER B.

In addition, the Covid-19 pandemic has caused air traffic to collapse: the Aéroports de Paris group announced alarming forecasts at the end of October, with traffic which could plunge up to 70% in 2020. In this context, it does not appear “that a resumption of the growth of air traffic can be anticipated on the foreseeable date of commissioning of the infrastructure in question”, points out the court in its judgment.

The CDG Express project cannot therefore be regarded “as constituting an essential infrastructure, responding, therefore, to imperative reasons of major public interest”, he concluded. “It’s a great victory”, welcomed to AFP Me Corinne Lepage, lawyer for the applicant municipality of Mitry-Mory (Seine-et-Marne), who however asked for the total cancellation of the decree .

Without derogation, “they are obliged to stop work in all areas where there are protected species, said Me Lepage, considering the project,“ in great difficulty ”despite the possibility for his defenders to appeal the decision. .

Asked by AFP, the prefecture of Ile-de-France and the Ministry of Transport did not react immediately, while SNCF Réseau, in charge of the work, declined to comment.

(With AFP)