Reuters, 7/1/17:
France Launches 2 New High-Speed Rail Lines
France inaugurated two new high-speed rail lines on Saturday linking the capital to the western cities of Bordeaux and Rennes in what is likely to be the last launches of their kind for years as public cash becomes increasingly scarce.
The state-owned SNCF railway operator expects 35,000 passengers to use the new route to Bordeaux daily and 30,000 to use the line to Rennes.
Nearly eight billion euros ($9.1 billion) were invested in the stretch to Bordeaux while 3.4 billion euros went into the Rennes line, both under public-private partnerships, SNCF said.
While local politicians often fight hard to bring high-speed lines to their regions to boost jobs and activity, such projects have fallen out of favor with the central government due to the costs.
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