Budgetary pressure is also adding up for France’s new government, which is due to announce a wave of spending cuts in the coming days after an audit found this week that the 2017 finances were overshooting targets.
The line to Bordeaux, which links up with existing high-speed rail lines in the central city of Tours, was financed under a unique public-private partnership that will see a consortium led by construction group Vinci operate it under concession for 50 years.
However, the price of usage has left the SNCF concerned, and its president, Guillaume Pepy, told Le Monde newspaper it would lose 90 million euros on the line this year.
Despite the huge costs of high-speed lines, a study from the INSEE statistics agency found this year that they do bring significant economic activity, boosting companies’ profitability and productivity.