1. BETTER INTEGRATING LONG-DISTANCE AND URBAN TRANSPORT
Case study analysis:
The Grand Paris Express’ project

2. Investing in urban nodes is crucial for the success of trans-European networks
An ambitious policy which facilitates European citizens’ daily travels and focuses on infrastructure development in dense urban areas by:
reinforcing the irrigation of existing corridors;
multiplying long distance infrastructures’ return on investment;
responding to congestion, citizens concentration and air quality improvement’s challenges;
increasing European policies’ visibility toward citizens.

3. Grand Paris : the crossing-point of 2 European corridors

4. Why is investing in urban nodes crucial?
A case study analysis drawn from the Grand Paris Express’ Project
Reinforcing the irrigation of existing corridors:
Reinforcing the access to international gateways (airports, train stations) through clean public transports encourages the use of long distance infrastructures and reduces the carbon footprint
GPE will significantly reduce transport times
Paris’ hub is one of the world’s largest (app. 102M passengers per year in airports, 225M passengers in high speed and international rail stations covered by GPE)
Multiplying long distance infrastructures’ return on investment:
Infrastructures’ quality in urban nodes is a critical factor in the World Cities competition. The attractiveness induced by this quality eventually benefits to the use of trans national infrastructures.
The main socio economic benefits are generated in urban areas
Once the whole network is running, the Grand Paris Express will generate an additional €100 billion in the GDP and more than 115,000 jobs in addition to those created by the natural growth of the region;
Promoting European policies’ visibility toward citizens:
EU policies clearly are not enough visible for citizens; thus, it is crucial that EU’s support towards the bettering of citizens’ daily journeys can be seen
More than 75% of the European population is living, commuting and working in the urban nodes of Europe; transport and even more public transport is a major daily issue for those who live in those areas
Responding to congestion, citizens’ concentration and air quality improvement ‘s challenges
Without any efficient regional infrastructure, trans national transports might worsen local urban transport’s congestion
2M passengers are expected daily on the GPE
Keeping in mind the Grand Paris’ outstanding transport’s connections with 3 leading European airports, High-speed trains offering several connections to Europe and the river Seine offering access to maritime transport

5. Therefore, the improvement of urban nodes’ sustainable integration on local, national and TEN-T levels needs to be continued and strongly amplified
They are the ‘backbone’ of Europe’s economic activity and their interconnectivity is a key element in a continent where the majority of cities are relatively small. The Societé du Grand Paris in charge of the GPE’s project intends to promote as widely as possible the need of a better recognition of those urban nodes in the European transport policy