€3.65billion Marseille-Nice rail project on track

Work continues on a €3.65billion project to boost daily train capacity between Marseille and Nice by 66%, following a loan application to the European Investment Bank (EIB) earlier this year.

The project’s most prominent worksites are at Nice Airport, where a new railway station is under construction. 

Around Marseille, new stations are being built at Saint-André and Arenc, alongside additional platforms and lines near Saint-Charles, the city’s main station.

Further new stations are also being constructed at Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer (Var), between Marseille and Toulon, and at La Pauline (Var), on the far side of Toulon.

Various smaller worksites will also open in the first phase, including new pedestrian bridges and the replacement of some level crossings.

The first phase is scheduled for completion around 2030 and is estimated to cost €1.2billion.

SNCF Réseau, which is leading the project, confirmed that it has been fully funded, and that money has been found for detailed planning work for the second phase.

The project’s most ambitious – and costly – element will be the excavation of an 8km tunnel beneath Marseille from east to west, together with a new underground station at Saint-Charles.

Work on it is scheduled to begin in 2027, but no estimated completion date has been announced.

Demolition work around Saint-Charles to prepare for the tunnel and line expansions has started.

The EIB said it is considering the request for the €600million loan, but told The Connexion it could not give a timetable for a likely decision.

Controversy

Promoters of the scheme, a combination of government and civil engineering organisations, say that as well as increasing the region’s potential daily train capacity by 66%, it will create three TER commuter lines around Aix-Marseille, Toulon and Nice.

When the tunnel is completed, trains crossing Marseille will gain between 15 and 20 minutes compared to trains running on the surface tracks.

Passengers will also be able to board trains west of Marseille and continue along the line to Toulon and beyond without having to change in Marseille.

The project has not been without controversy, and protest groups have been active since plans were first unveiled 20 years ago.

The initial focus was on creating a TGV line between Marseille and Italy.

However, the high-speed element, originally included in phases three and four of the project, was postponed in 2021 to an unspecified future date and will now have to undergo a separate planning process.

One reason for the change may have been the longstanding environmental protests on the Italian side against a separate high-speed rail link between Lyon and Turin.

Planning inquiries have nevertheless continued to approve the project.

Court appeal

Government decrees which allowed for compulsory purchase of some land for the first two phases of the project have also gone through.

Some local councils are still objecting to the cost and the utility of the project.

They argue that improvements to the road and existing rail systems, including new bus and tram lines, will be much cheaper and more useful.

An appeal against the project at the tribunal administratif was launched by local councils last summer, but the case has yet to be heard.

The €3.65billion estimate for phases one and two was announced by the government in 2020, but the final bill is likely to be closer to €4billion to account for inflation during the construction period.

In 2020, the inflation rate was close to zero, but by May 2026 it had reached 2.2% in France.