quote
The age of the train returns to French provinces
Locals win fight to reopen station as network extends to other rural
areas
·	Lizzy Davies in Paris
·	The Guardian,
·	Saturday August 23 2008
Provincial stations, such as Bazancourt, are set to have regular rail
services for the first time since war
For almost 50 years, no train has stopped at the station of
Bazancourt. A village in the Champagne region of France with just
under 2,000 inhabitants, it was cut off from the railway network after
the second world war and lay forgotten.
As France roared into a new era of high-speed train travel - or train
à grande vitesse (TGV) as it is known in France - that linked up big
cities, the provinces were left out in the cold.
Now, however, Bazancourt is back on track. Its dilapidated station has
been given a lick of paint and restored to its former glory. The
missing letters from its name have been fixed back on the freshly
white-washed walls.
As of 1 September, twelve trains from the regional network will stop
at its modernised platforms every day and the locals are claiming
victory in what they have called the "battle of Bazancourt".
"We have been fighting for years for this and now at last it's
happened," said Michel Jahyer, president of an association pushing for
the reopening of smaller stations in the region around the city of
Reims. "For 40 years the policy of the SNCF [public rail network] has
been to focus almost entirely on the TGV. It was always the TGV. They
have been totally uninterested in the rest of us."
Jahyer, for one, is delighted with what many are hailing as the
revival of France's regional railways. He will now be able to travel
to Reims in just 11 minutes, a distinct improvement on a half-hour car
journey or winding bus tour which takes an hour to do the journey of
16 miles.
The village's teenagers will be able to come home from school on their
own, the car-less elderly will be relieved of their isolation and
commuters will be freed of the costs of parking and petrol.
But it is not just in Bazancourt that this is happening. All over
France authorities are showing signs of waking up to the needs of the
provinces after years in which high-speed, inter-city links have been
the unquestioned priority.
From Provence to the outskirts of Paris, disused lines are being
reactivated, small town stations reopened and new networks built.
At the same time, in a summer of soaring petrol prices and plummeting
spending power, many French people are starting to make changes to the
way they move around. Fuel consumption is down. For the first time in
30 years, car use is down as well.
Public transport is facing its highest demand in years - and one
French news magazine asked this month whether these trends indicated a
new era and "the end of the reign of the car". Régis van Herreweghe, a
spokesman for the Mayor of Bazancourt, said the changes in his village
had clear implications for the wider world.
"This mode of transport has obvious significance in terms of
sustainable development in a global context of rising prices and fuel
shortages," he said. "Travelling by rail helps people save money and
protect the environment."
Speaking of the need to face up to the demands of a new, energy-
efficient era, Guillaume Pépy, the president of the SNCF, said the
main challenge of the coming years would be to provide a real
alternative to the car. "This is an incredible chance for the railway,
which many people 30 years ago thought had no future," he said.
"Today, with the energy crisis, we're moving into a different period.
Everyone realises that the car cannot be the only answer."
Michel Jahyer, meanwhile, is now lobbying the local Champagne-Ardenne
authorities for a new railway station at the village of Chatelet-sur-
Retourne, just eight miles down the road.
"There are still places without any public transport at all," he said.
"No station, no bus, no nothing."
The battle of Bazancourt may have been won but the war, it seems, will
roll on.
unquote

"Mwmbwls"  wrote in message 
news:f66e5ffa-153e-4bba-a78c-6c515dade2e5@m3g2000hsc.googlegroups.com...
>quote
>The age of the train returns to French provinces
>Locals win fight to reopen station as network extends to other rural
>areas
>· Lizzy Davies in Paris
>· The Guardian,
>· Saturday August 23 2008
>Provincial stations, such as Bazancourt, are set to have regular rail
>services for the first time since war
>For almost 50 years, no train has stopped at the station of
>Bazancourt. A village in the Champagne region of France with just
>under 2,000 inhabitants, it was cut off from the railway network after
>the second world war and lay forgotten.

It is hardly fair to say that the village was "cut off", it still had a 
working railway line running through it, all that had happened is that 
trains ceased to stop at this station.

Reopening a station on a working like is hardly an indication that reopening 
an entirely closed line is likely.

tim

"tim....."  wrote in message 
news:6hfhdoFl1rpsU1@mid.individual.net...
>
> "Mwmbwls"  wrote in message 
> news:f66e5ffa-153e-4bba-a78c-6c515dade2e5@m3g2000hsc.googlegroups.com...
>>quote
>>The age of the train returns to French provinces
>>Locals win fight to reopen station as network extends to other rural
>>areas
>>· Lizzy Davies in Paris
>>· The Guardian,
>>· Saturday August 23 2008
>>Provincial stations, such as Bazancourt, are set to have regular rail
>>services for the first time since war
>>For almost 50 years, no train has stopped at the station of
>>Bazancourt. A village in the Champagne region of France with just
>>under 2,000 inhabitants, it was cut off from the railway network after
>>the second world war and lay forgotten.
>
> It is hardly fair to say that the village was "cut off", it still had a 
> working railway line running through it, all that had happened is that 
> trains ceased to stop at this station.
>
> Reopening a station on a working like is hardly an indication that 
> reopening an entirely closed line is likely.
>
> tim
>
>
France has had a tradition of substituting buses for trains, either 
partially or completely, for many years, whilst keeping the line open for 
through services or freight. I suspect that, in almost all cases, what is 
happening is that these buses are now being replaced by trains in some 
cases. I have heard of very few cases of a complete reopening of a line- the 
only one that springs to mind is a freight line that runs around Rouen to 
the north, which has been reopened and electrified to try and increase the 
pitifully small number of containers being handled by rail. Rather more 
services and lines have gone the other way, even in very recent times- the 
line from Clermont Ferrard to Ales was closed for a year after a derailment 
drew attention to systemic track problems.
Brian

"BH Williams"  wrote:
>
>France has had a tradition of substituting buses for trains, either 
>partially or completely, for many years, whilst keeping the line open for 
>through services or freight. I suspect that, in almost all cases, what is 
>happening is that these buses are now being replaced by trains in some 
>cases. I have heard of very few cases of a complete reopening of a line- the 
>only one that springs to mind is a freight line that runs around Rouen to 
>the north, which has been reopened and electrified to try and increase the 
>pitifully small number of containers being handled by rail. Rather more 
>services and lines have gone the other way, even in very recent times- the 
>line from Clermont Ferrard to Ales was closed for a year after a derailment 
>drew attention to systemic track problems.



I agree.  Holding up France as a shining example of how to run a
national railway system is ill-advised.

Colossal amounts of money have been poured into the high speed lines
and the TGVs that run on them.  However the rest of the French rail
network has been starved of cash as a result.

I strongly suspect the same would happen here if high speed lines were
built.  The Treasury would only consider supporting the construction
of high speed lines if there was a consequent reduction in subsidy
elsewhere.