Motorway concessions will have a "more demanding framework", assures the Minister of Transport
The government intends to use motorway tolls, along with the SNCF (French National Railway Company), to finance the billions of euros needed to modernize the road and rail networks. The "rejection of widespread free travel" on public transport and motorways must be acknowledged, Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot (Les Républicains) declared on Wednesday, July 9. "In a time of budgetary constraints, we cannot deprive ourselves of these resources to expand our offerings," he declared.
Maintenance needs are enormous and the budget is tight, noted former Secretary of State for Transport Dominique Bussereau, during the submission of a report on infrastructure financing.
Experts, elected officials, and professionals gathered at the Ambition France Transport conference to identify 14 proposals. Among those selected by the government, Philippe Tabarot highlighted the continuation of a new motorway concession model, while the current concessions, shared by Vinci, APRR, and Sanef, will expire in 2031. The new concessions will have to be "more restricted," "have a shorter duration," and include a system for monitoring profitability, the minister explained.
Earlier, the transport minister told Agence France-Presse that French motorway concessions would be "renewed" but would have a "more demanding, better-controlled framework and stricter state oversight."
2.5 billion euros moreA first draft law scheduled for December 2025 will set these guidelines in stone. If they were maintained at a "level close to today's," tolls would bring in an additional €2.5 billion each year from 2036, according to the report. "We do not want to significantly increase user participation," Philippe Tabarot emphasized.
All revenues paid to the State under these new motorway concessions "will go to transport" , whether it be the rail network or roads, he added. While the mobilization continues in the Tarn against the construction of the A69 motorway, the minister specified that the law would "dedicate the priority given to the regeneration and modernization of existing networks" .
The Infrastructure Advisory Council (COI) has been tasked with "reprioritizing major projects," which it is expected to publish in 2026. "We can no longer afford projects that will please this or that parliamentarian or local elected official," Mr. Tabarot said at a press conference.
Opposition to a tax on TGV ticketsOn the rail network side, the law will set the objective of increasing the amount of investment in the rail network by 1.5 billion euros per year, reaching 4.5 billion per year by 2028. To raise this sum, the ministry is counting on the SNCF, through a reinvestment of its profits, but also on private capital and energy saving certificates.
Philippe Tabarot, however, opposed a tax on TGV tickets, suggested by the Ambition France Transport report. Other proposals, such as a tax on home parcel deliveries or an increase in car registration taxes, were also not included. SNCF management, which was present at the conference, declined to comment on these proposals.
Regarding roads, whose medium-term deterioration is a cause for concern, the minister hopes that the 2026 Finance Bill will include an increase in the funding allocated for their maintenance. The report also proposes facilitating the return of the regional ecotax, which charges heavy goods vehicles using certain busy road networks.
"Easy prey"The president of the Union of Transport and Logistics Companies of France (TLF), which brings together transport and logistics companies, condemned these "good old recipes" on Wednesday with "lots of tax ideas that create a forest of swords of Damocles hanging over our heads."
"We're going to have to stop attacking this sector, which is a bit of an easy target," Jean-Thomas Schmitt protested to AFP, where business failures are on the rise.
A second milestone of the law should define "at a later date" investment projects and their financing, the ministry specified. The upgrading and modernization of national rail, road, and river infrastructure requires an additional investment of approximately €3 billion per year over the period 2026-2031.
Transport infrastructure, particularly the State's major rail, road and river networks, "has been steadily deteriorating for several decades due to a lack of adequate investment to maintain it," noted the rapporteur of the Ambition France Transport conference.
The World with AFP
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