Transports
Why Occitanie is investing crazy sums in rail
The Occitanie Region has just announced an investment plan of 800 million euros in its railway lines. It asks the State to put as much on the table to boost its passenger traffic.
Traveling between Nîmes and Montpellier by TER takes less than 30 minutes. Also, many workers make their pendulum movement – in both directions – between these two prefectures of Occitania. Dynamic, the rail market in Occitanie recorded this summer an increase of + 13% in its traffic compared to summer 2019, while at the same time, according to SNCF, this traffic fell by “-25% to l ‘nationwide and even -50% in some regions. ” Through a particularly aggressive pricing policy (a Montpellier-Nîmes return trip can cost barely 2 euros against 20.60 euros full price thanks to the implementation of targeted reductions depending on the filling of the train), the TER Occitanie notably saw the younger age of their users since “nearly 63,700 youth tickets were sold between October 1 and 9, 2020 against 18,600 in October 2019”, specifies the regional council.
