During the plenary session on June 23, 2023, the South region announced a significant increase in rail traffic. Within two years, a regional train (TER) would be available every fifteen minutes between Cannes and Monaco.
Fully committed to decarbonization, the South region is enhancing its image as a pioneering territory for ecological planning. It is partly through the rails that this transition aims to be achieved. In a context of increasing mobility and sustainable development, the South region was the first to open its rail network to competition. As early as 2019, tenders were issued for the Marseille-Toulon-Nice lines. The French multinational transportation company Transdev was selected for operation from mid-2025. SNCF Côte d’Azur reserves operations of the lines in the Azurean sector and the Roya Valley. The goal is to open the rest of the lines to competition. Undeniably, this opening to competition allows for massive expansion of the TER network in the South region.
A contract of nearly one billion euros
for mobility
Renaud Muselier, president of the South Region, specifies during the plenary session on June 23 that the priority axis for mobility is rail transport. The announced budget amounts to 155 million euros for this sector. The objective is to focus on both sustainable and decarbonized transport while meeting citizens’ expectations. Renaud Muselier humorously comments on the region’s geographical situation: “We have the sea below, and the mountains above, so since we can’t push the roads, we’ll have to run the rails!” A statement highlighting the issue of the rugged topography of the South Region.
A TER every fifteen minutes between Cannes
and Monaco
Dramatically increasing the number of trains without impacting users’ wallets is the challenge set by the South Region. Finally, Renaud Muselier announced “a train every fifteen minutes from 6 am to 11 pm. It will be the first metropolitan RER outside Paris! Across the network, we will increase from 590 trains per day currently to 750 in 2025.” Undoubtedly, these figures bode very well for the region’s internal connectivity.
