CONTOURNEMENT NIMES-MONTPELLIER

The project consists of a 61km high-speed rail line for mixed passenger and freight traffic between the Méditerranée High-Speed Line at Manduel, southeast of Nîmes, and the Tarascon-Sète conventional network line at Lattes, southwest of Montpellier. It also includes about 10km of connections to the existing conventional network and a 10km freight link, to the east of Nîmes, with the Rhône Right Bank conventional network line at Saint Gervasy.

The project is an essential link in France's and Europe's high-speed network and, in particular, in Priority Axis No. 3, South-West Europe's high-speed rail link (Nîmes-Barcelona-Madrid-Lisbon). The project will serve to establish passenger and freight rail services generating substantial time gains with the potential to bring about a significant modal shift from roads and hence environmental benefits. The new line will provide the basis for the development of freight transport and the improvement of the region's TER (Regional Express Train) services.

The Nîmes-Montpellier line was included in the French national master plan for high-speed rail links prior to the application of Directive 2001/42/EC on strategic environmental assessment (SEA). The project falls within the categories listed in Annex I of Directive 97/11/EC and was therefore subjected to an environmental impact assessment (EIA) in accordance with French administrative procedures, which take full account of Community legislation.

The EIA was conducted as part of the procedure for obtaining a declaration of public interest (DUP), which was issued on 16 May 2005. Environmental measures were defined and their implementation will be examined as part of the project appraisal, particularly with respect to the impact on the natural environment.

RFF is bound by Community directives on procurement procedures, notably Directive 2004/17/EC. The procurement procedures will be examined as part of the project appraisal.