Justice has validated the Charles-de-Gaulle Express project, a 32 kilometer railway line which must connect Paris to Roissy airport. Initially planned to facilitate access to the sites of the 2024 Olympic Games, the site had been sued and fell behind the initial program.
On paper, the project is attractive: the train should connect the Gare de l’Est to Roissy Charles-de-Gaulle airport in just 20 minutes, a much shorter alternative to RER journeys, which range from 30 to 50 min depending on the number of stops.
But the project does not appeal to everyone. Shortly after the start of the construction site in 2019, Charlotte Blandiot-Faride, the communist mayor of the commune of Mitry-Mory, in Seine-et-Marne, crossed by the future line, attacked the authorization for work. With elected leftists and associations, they accuse the project of destroying the environment. They are particularly concerned about nuisances for frogs, lizards and birds. They also believe that this train of the rich », at 24 euros per trip, prevents the modernization of other public transport in the sector.
Justified for justice, despite the environmental impact
The administrative court rules in their favor and the site is interrupted at the end of 2020. It resumes pending the judgment on appeal. The judges then considered that the infrastructure was not “ essential to the point of destroying this biodiversity. They noted in particular that air traffic had fallen due to the health crisis since the declaration of public utility in 2017 and questioned the temporary nature of this drop.
Justice has therefore just validated the continuation of the work, considering that the project is “ justified by an imperative reason of overriding public interest “. He can thus derogate from the provisions of the environmental code on animal species. ” We cannot fight against the artificialization of soils and say that protecting species is an absolute priority, and at the same time say that there is no problem in destroying them “, regretted Corinne Lepage, lawyer for the town of Mitry-Mory.
The Charles-de-Gaulle Express should therefore circulate well… but in 2027, three years after the Olympic Games.
►Also read: “CDG Express”, a controversial fast train between Paris and Roissy airport