The Société réunionnaise des grands projets (SRGP), modelled on the Société du Grand Paris, is the region’s answer to the financing question hanging over La Réunion’s regional express train, one of the island’s largest infrastructure bets. Whether the financing can survive political change is the question dominating the debate.
The region, which is carrying the project, points to strong demand as evidence of its economic rationale. When it published the results of the États généraux de la mobilité in February 2024, drawn from consultations held the previous year, 77 percent of the 11,000 contributions backed the creation of a train. Since the public debate on the Réunion express project opened in late August, public meetings have been full. Laetitia Folio, secretary general of the public debate, said there is a real dynamic: meetings were organised in the island’s five EPCI and each time some people had to be turned away.
The business case rests on congestion and car dependency. According to the Insee, 83 percent of working Reunionnais commuted by car in 2021, against 6 percent by public transport. The population keeps growing, and with it the number of vehicles. Fabrice Hoarau, the regional councillor for roads and sustainable mobility, argued that today’s traffic jams are the best the island will see for the next ten years, calling the situation an absolute urgency. The project foresees 140 km of track serving 16 communes, with capacity for up to 100,000 passengers a day. A first section is due to enter service in 2035. The ticket price has not been set, but Hoarau promises a fare adjusted to the island’s poverty rate and cheaper than the cost of driving.
Financing is the project’s main point of vigilance, and memories of past cost overruns weigh heavily. The Nouvelle route du littoral is expected to be delivered in 2030, ten years late and 800 million euros over budget. Folio also recalled the trauma of the tram-train abandoned in 2010, a regional project conceived under Paul Vergès that was scrapped after a change of majority to the right in the 2010 regional elections.
The SRGP would bring together the region, as majority shareholder, and the EPCI. Patrice Bédier, deputy director of the cabinet of Huguette Bello, the region’s president (PLR), explained that the company could borrow over fifty years, and that regardless of political change there would be a loan, an engagement over the long term. The region also points to more than 1.3 billion euros in European funds the project could claim.
Not all local officials are reassured. David Lorion, mayor (LR) of Saint-Pierre and president of the Communauté intercommunale des villes solidaires (Civis), says he is very worried about the financing, which could lead to new taxes on households. On 9 October, deputies Karine Lebon (PLR), Emeline K/Bidi (Progrès-974) and Frédéric Maillot (PLR) tabled an amendment to the 2027 finance bill currently before the Assemblée nationale. It provides for two taxes: one on the foncier tax, second homes and the cotisation foncière des entreprises (CFE), the other tripling the tourism tax paid by businesses. The deputies describe this in their amendment as an established practice, citing the Grand Paris as an example.
Meanwhile, two operational questions could affect the project’s market appeal. The first is accessibility for residents of the Hauts, such as Le Tampon, a university town and the island’s fourth-largest commune, sitting between 300 and 2,400 metres in altitude and apparently not served by the line. Alexis Chaussalet, mayor (PLR) of Le Tampon and president of the Communauté d’agglomération du sud de la Réunion (CASUD), does not want these residents to be once again excluded from major mobility projects on the grounds that the terrain makes things more complex. He calls for simple connections with the bus network, coordinated timetables, adapted interchange hubs and parking options. The second is integration: on the ground, Folio sees little opposition but two recurring demands, that the project be financially sound and mesh well with the existing bus network.
On the environmental side, Hoarau says the train will be 100 percent electric, with power consumption representing 1 percent of the island’s daily electricity production. The region wants the line to run alongside national roads, which it says offers two advantages: the region already controls the land, so works can start quickly, and these are low-impact environmental zones. He argues the goal is to cut pollution from car use, making it by definition an ecological project. According to the Observatoire énergie Réunion, road transport accounted for 51 percent of the island’s energy-related CO2 emissions in 2024.
The project and its various routes remain under debate until 16 November. The Commission nationale du débat public (CNDP) will then produce a summary to be returned to the region in January 2027, a moment that will show whether the SRGP model and its promised European funds are enough to settle the financing question. Further detail on the project and the debate can be found at https://www.lagazettedescommunes.com/regions/outre-mer/la-reunion/a-la-reunion-le-projet-de-train-express-regional-entre-plebiscite-et-incertitudes.MAOABABVTNBTNGH5A2NVIO5R4Y.html