The railway cooperative Railcoop announced Friday that it aims for a daily rotation of passenger trains between Lyon and Bordeaux from the summer of 2024, but says it faces the refusal of regional institutions to grant guarantees to complete its budget.

Railcoop, which has just interrupted its loss-making freight train business to focus on its future offer to passengers on a transversal link abandoned by SNCF in 2014, has so far raised "a little more than a quarter" of the 4 million euros targeted for the current financial year. They would be needed to launch the service next year, said its director-general, Nicolas Debaisieux.

While the cooperative must "raise debt", the banks "asked us to have regions that act as guarantors", detailed Mr. Debaisieux during a video press conference. However, only the Occitanie region has committed itself in writing, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes communicating "a refusal", while discussions continue with the Grand-Est and Nouvelle-Aquitaine.

A response from the SNCF in September

"Public support is very uncertain to help us develop," the director general conceded. As a result, "we are moving towards private financing", in addition to fundraising from new members, he said.

Based in Figeac (Lot), the cooperative has been trying for months to raise the necessary funds - some 3 million euros - to put back into service second-hand railcars bought from the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.

In terms of the project, Railcoop is waiting for a response from SNCF Réseau in September to its request for slots to operate the link. If the cooperative had so far communicated on a one-way trip followed by a return the next day, it now intends to make one round trip per day with the same train, synonymous with a departure before 6:00 am and a return in the late evening, for a journey that will take 7:30 in each direction.

According to its management, Railcoop now has some 14,000 members, including 200 legal entities. Nearly 80% of the capital is held by natural persons, and 12 to 15% by local authorities.

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