TGV tres OK
From Mr Frederic Lamond Sir: The French TGV network is not a product of Mitterrandian folie de grandeur, but a well thought-out plan (`Last tango in Paris', 9 June). By bringing outlying provincial cities such as Bordeaux, Toulouse and Marseilles to within fewer than four hours' train travel from Paris, Lyons two hours and Lille one hour, the TGV network both further unifies France politically and psychological
ly, and decentralises it economically and demographically, since businessmen and managers can live much further away from the capital and still be able to travel up to it quickly whenever the need arises. It is also environmentally friendly, since it runs on 90 per cent nuclear-generated electricity and takes travellers out of aeroplanes and private cars, both of which run on polluting fossil fuels. All in all, an excellent example of the joined-up thinking that Tony Blair has so much difficulty introducing into Whitehall.
Nor is the TGV Med the last TGV line to be built. Work has already begun on the TGV Est, which will cut journey times between Paris and Metz, Nancy and Strasbourg, and there are advanced plans for an extension of the original TGV Sud-Est from Dijon to Besancon, Be!fort and Mulhouse. The heavily indebted SNCF can't afford these new lines, so they are being paid for partly by the central and partly by the regional governments of Lorraine and Alsace.
As for the more heavily taxed French citizen, don't forget that his taxes pay not only for the TGV network but also for excellent pensions, health and educational services.
Frederic Larnond
Wernberg, Austria
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