Article: Transportation infrastructures in France tomorrow: The conclusions of Commission Mobilité 21

By Philippe DURON

Deputy mayor of Caen, former chairman of Commission Mobilité 21

Abstract

A year ago, Commission Mobilité 21 submitted to the French government its recommendations about implementing a National Scheme of Infrastructures for Transportation (SNIT). Comments on these recommendations have too often been restricted to the politically sensitive chapter that ranked the SNIT’s 75 projects. Adopting a broad approach, the commission intended, however, to establish an appraisal of the current state, operations and connections of transportation systems in France and to make proposals for building a system of “sustainable mobility”. Among the topics discussed in this review of the commission’s alternative approach are: the place of high-speed trains in the rail system; the role of road transportation in an “intermodal” system; the seaports to develop so as to increase our country’s competitive edge; the “energy transition”; the integration of French transportation in a European network; and methods for dealing with inequality between localities.