Eight of the twelve metropolitan regions attacked SNCF Réseau before the Council of State to contest its rail toll prices, according to a media article The Informed confirmed this Wednesday, January 10 by the Hauts-de-France region.
The regions are protesting against the increases demanded for the years 2024, 2025 and 2026 by the railway infrastructure manager to run the regional express trains (TER), which they finance, and for which the remainder risks be passed on to users.
For example, in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, the service timetable for 2024 provides for “an increase of 5.3% for the fee for using the railway infrastructure, i.e. an additional charge of 11 million euros” , indicated his advisor Aurélien Burel to The Informed.
The region would then see the inflation of rail tolls “continue in 2025 with an increase of 4.3% and again in 2026 with 3%”, according to Me Burel.
A pricing policy validated with reservations
Thus, the Council of State examined this Wednesday afternoon the appeals of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, Centre-Val de Loire, Hauts-de-France, Ile-de-France, Occitanie, New Aquitaine and Grand Est. The decision(s) should be rendered after mid-February.
All these regions are demanding the cancellation of the pricing provisions of SNCF Réseau and the opinion of the ART – which had validated in February 2023, in a context of high inflation, the manager’s new pricing policy, with some reservations. Decisions are expected to be made in February.