How users forced SNCF to bend over backwards to restore direct train service between Nancy and Lyon

“They called us itchy hairs, we didn’t give up and it worked. » Since 2018, not a month has passed without Adurnay, the association defending railway users in Neufchâteau (Vosges) and its surroundings, calling attention to the lack of connections with the south of France. Since late 2018, Lorraine residents wishing to travel to Lyon by train have had to travel via Paris or via Strasbourg, at the time due to work at the Lyon Part-Dieu station.

Correspondence that is intimidating due to its length and cost. “It was pointless to take all these detours. Guillaume Pepy, the former head of SNCF, told us that in 2023 everything would return to normal, but he lied to us. The SNCF persisted because the line between Nancy and Dijon is not high-speed, it favored the LGV Rhine-Rhone,” explains Olivier Jeannel, vice-president of the association, which regularly blocked tracks or stopped trains to denounce the suspension of services. historical line.

He met with Prime Ministers Jean Castex and Elisabeth Born and many senators and deputies before local elected officials joined the cause. The result: The Department of Transport has just confirmed the reinstatement of the line in December, which is now classified as a “territorial balance train”, with the government taking responsibility for part of the shortfall. This daily service between Nancy and Lyon will take 4 hours 20 minutes, with stops at Neufchâteau and Culmont-Chalindray (Haute-Marne), the same time as by car, and costs between 50 and 60 euros. According to Olivier Jeannel, “in times of ecological transition there is no debate! »