The place of rail in France: our contribution to the energy and climate debate

Written by Sophie Renassia

Published on February 6, 2025, modified on March 5, 2025

Have your say on France's energy and climate roadmap? For Les Aventuriers d'HOURRAIL ! volunteers* the opportunity was just too good. So, last November, when the French government launched a public consultation on its low-carbon strategy, the association's volunteers decided to roll up their sleeves and come up with proposals to meet the challenge. The result is a detailed set of arguments designed to bring railways to the forefront of the debate. Although the summary of the 365 entries submitted on the platform gives very little space to rail, let's hope that these proposals will be taken into account. While we await the government's response, let's take a look back at the key proposals put forward by Les Aventuriers d'HOURRAIL! with Amélie and Alban, volunteers and members of the association's lobbying wagon.

*If you didn't know, HOURRAIL! isn't just a low-carbon travel medium. It's also an association, Les Aventuriers d'HOURRAIL ! which brings together train travel enthusiasts from all over France. One of the working groups - the “wagon lobbying” - aims to accelerate the development of rail travel in France and Europe through citizen lobbying (via petitions, well-argued participations like this one...). To join the community of volunteers, click here!

Aiming for carbon neutrality by 2050

A public consultation to decarbonize France

Before presenting the association's work, a little background. This public consultation on energy and climate followed the publication, on November 4, 2024, of a draft of the 3rd National Low-Carbon Strategy (SNBC) and the 3rd Multiannual Energy Program (PPE). The SNBC is the legal expression of France's commitment to decarbonization, and sets out the structural changes France plans to make by 2030. The aim is to halve emissions compared to 1990 levels and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

It was against this backdrop that citizens, local authorities and businesses were invited to express their views. Energy production, housing, transport, food, consumption... For six weeks, the public was able to give their opinion on these different roadmaps via the online consultation platform.

The many contributions (more than 7,000 proposals submitted by the public, and over 300 stakeholders' booklets published, including that of the d'HOURRAIL association! The government is now required to respond within two months, detailing how the public's contributions will be taken into account in the latest iterations of the SNBC and PPE (to be published in the first quarter of 2025).

“The idea was to raise very concrete issues for citizens, which is somewhat lacking in the government's initial proposals.” - Amélie Pinard, volunteer with Les Aventuriers d'HOURRAIL!

The contribution of Aventuriers d'HOURRAIL!

The Aventuriers d'HOURRAIL! contribution, which takes the form of a 4-page “cahier d'acteur” (download in full here) responds, as you'd expect, to the issue of mobility. “Alongside traditional lobbyists, we also wanted to make our voice and our vision heard during this consultation,” explains Alban Manuel De Condinguy, a member of the association's lobbying wagon.

“The SNBC and PPE proposals concerning transport are quite numerous, but with uneven ambitions or a certain lack of realism at times. The player's notebook was drawn up in an attempt to criticize these proposals.” - Amélie

The proposals are divided into three parts: the first on modal shift from road transport, the second on modal shift from air transport, and the last on the need for a real rail policy supported by the State.

Decarbonizing transport: proposals from the Aventuriers d'HOURRAIL!

Rail to reduce road traffic

In first place for greenhouse gas emissions from the domestic transport sector in France: the road sector, and more particularly private cars (69 Mt CO2e in 2022). And yet, in France, cars account for 72% of long-distance journeys (compared with just 14% for train journeys of over 80 km)! So how can we encourage people to take the train more?

1. Reduce the cost of rail travel.

Even if the cost of a car journey is higher when only one passenger is considered (0.19€/km on average for the train according to UFC Que choisir, versus 0.33€/km for the car according to ADETEC, 2023), it becomes much more attractive than by train when the number of passengers increases. To address this cost issue, the association proposes several solutions.

One of them is to lower rail tolls. French rail tolls are among the highest in Europe, and can represent up to 40% of the ticket price for users (don't hesitate to sign our petition on this subject!). The association is also proposing a financial incentive to visit French or European sites accessible by train, via tourist discounts on presentation of a train ticket.

In any case, as researcher Aurélien Bigo points out, a coherent modal shift policy is based both on reducing the use of the most polluting forms of mobility and on investment in soft mobility.

2. Offer mobility solutions for the last few kilometers.

Even if many stations are located in city centers, public transport services could be expanded, and car-sharing solutions developed near stations (the principle of intermodality, which involves using several modes of transport on the same journey).

Rail to reduce air traffic

In the draft SNBC proposed by the French government, sobriety only appears in a very small minority. However, according to the Réseau Action Climat, the question is no longer “should we reduce air traffic”, but “how can we reduce it” in an efficient and socially just manner? And with good reason: the air transport sector accounts for 7% of CO2 emissions in France, and, with international air traffic, is responsible for an increase in emissions that has not stopped rising since the Covid-19 crisis! And when you consider that most of these journeys are made by well-off people (more info here), and that over 40% of them are to Europe, it seems reasonable to replace them with other modes of transport, such as rail.

The document also takes up proposals made by the Climate Action Network, such as a framework for airline and travel agency advertising, or the introduction of a “frequent flyer” tax, and suggests going back to the initial proposal of the Citizens' Climate Convention: the elimination of flights for which there is a direct rail alternative of less than 4.5 hours (this would concern 36 domestic air routes and 11 international routes from Paris). A measure that has already proved its worth, since the current legislation (eliminating flights for which there is a direct rail alternative of less than 2.5 hours) alone would have reduced domestic air traffic emissions by 3.4% between 2022 and 2023 (CITEPA, 2024)!

A solid rail policy

“There will be no ecological transition without transformation and investment in the rail sector.” - Alban

To achieve this, the association stresses the need to transform the dominant imaginations of travel, which today are still largely influenced by low-cost airlines and their trips to the ends of the earth.

Similarly, the development of the European rail network and the management of connections between different rail companies seem to be essential levers for competing with air travel.

The development of night trains would also enable a better distribution of the European network, allowing lines to be used during hours when they are very little used today. “In this respect, the order for the 300 new night carriages promised by Clément Beaune in December 2021 is awaited with great enthusiasm,” reads the stakeholder's notebook.

Finally, the 100 billion euro investment plan announced last year would make it possible to allocate an envelope to enhance accessibility to rail transport. This envelope could, for example, enhance the attractiveness of the low-cost annual vacation, “by offering all French people a €30 return ticket once a year (Réseau Action Climat, 2024)”. As for the Pass Rail, it would be worth maintaining accessibility efforts, since it has already enabled 1.9 million journeys during the first experiment.

To discover the summary of the public consultation, click here. See you in a few weeks to find out what the government has to say...