lines in danger

Small lines are about one-third of the French rail network welcoming passengers, i.e. 9,000 km out of a total of 28,000. They represent 17% of regional train traffic.

They are mostly single track (78%) and non-electrified (85%).

Their rails and tracks are old on average 40 years.

Among the 200 small lines, the average attendance is less than 30 passengers per train.

The cost of TER (operation, investment, etc.) – part of which uses the small lines – reaches 8.5 billion euros: 88% is covered by public subsidies (3.9 billion paid by the regions and 2 billion for the State).

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