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Local papers have presented the four possible options for a TGV train
service from Montpellier to Perpignan that are believed will be
presented to the CIADT (conseil interministériel d'aménagement du territoire)
by the rail services engineer Edouard Parant. The first option is to
construct a purely TGV line suited to the 320 km/hour high-speed
passenger trains: passengers will have a much reduced travel time, but
freight would be consigned to the older, original tracks. The second
option would see track placed down that would accept both the
high-speed passenger trains and 110 km/hour freight trains, but the
freight trains would only be able to use the track at night when the
passenger train was not active. The third option still mixes the two
types of train on the same train but envisages a track that allows for
a less fast passenger train - one that travels at 220 km/hour instead
of 320 km/hour - thus allowing freight trains to be transferred to this
track. In this third option passengers would still enjoy a
significantly reduced travel time of 45 minutes instead of the current
90 minutes, whilst option one and two would get passengers from
Montpellier to perpignan in around 30 minutes). Finally there is the
forth option, which does not involve creating a new track, but rather a
vast scheme of improving the existing tracks to the advantage of
freight trains. The TGV passenger trains would not run any faster, but
local and international freight logistics would be greatly improved,
allowing for more freight to be redirected off the A9 motorway - which
currently carries about 9000 HGV lorries a day! However, whichever
option is eventually chosen, an plan of action is not likely to be put
into place for some time yet.
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