Press email details

Hello all,


I am trying to get some email addresses for the French Media, needless to say all of the 'contact us' addresses from the official websites have been returned as invalid.


Any valid email address would be very welcome. We have just found out that COSEA will be laying ballast overnight and would like to hit the Prefecture with a counter attack. To put this into context I had a rant earlier:-


NIMBY! I do not really mind the TGV line running 250mtrs from the house, when it is sorted and the sound protection finally in place we will hardly hear it.
I do however object to the 50% devaluation of our house, the 40 trucks an hours travelling at speed down a one track road and shaking us into oblivion (the road is less than a metre from the house). And the new agreement that the construction can continue 24 hours a day - because they want to lay the ballast overnight! FOR TEN MONTHS!
The reply to my objections from our Mayor (on a salary of 5000 euro a year for a commune of 180 people - a very part time job) is that 'we will have to suffer inconvenience for a while'. Needless to say she lives nowhere near the 'inconvenience'.
Pissed off is an understatement. I can drive to Bordeaux faster than the train will take me and for less money. This line has been sold as a benefit to the communities it passes. To reach a station we have to drive for an hour - there is no public transport to get me there.
The project has no ethical redemption, the concrete poured will take centuries to balance out on the green factor and the damage to the environment cannot be expressed without expletives. On top of that they have destroyed a Neolithic settlement and Roman temple just on our short stretch. Goodness knows what they have done over the entire route.
Knot in stomach will not go for a while but the rant is over, at least to FB - shall be writing to the lovely President on the morrow. (cc. The press, especially the nice chap at the Guardian who held this project up as a perfect way of constructing a high speed railway with minimal cost).


Thank you or any help, I really cannot cope without sleep and from the TGV description (


Adding ballast


The next step consists of stuffing a deep bed of ballast underneath the new track. The ballast arrives in a train of hopper cars pulled by diesel locomotives. Handling this train is challenging, since the ballast must be spread evenly. If the train stops, ballast can pile over the rails and derail it.


A first layer of ballast is dumped directly onto the track, and a tamping-lining-levelling machine, riding on the rails, forces the stones underneath the sleepers. Each pass of this machine can raise the level of the track by 8 cm (3 in), so several passes of ballasting and of the machine are needed to build up a layer of ballast at least 32 cm (1 ft) thick under the sleepers. The ballast is also piled on each side of the track for lateral stability. The machine performs the initial alignment of the track. Next, a ballast regulator distributes the ballast evenly. Finally, a dynamic vibrator machine shakes the track to perform the final tamping, effectively simulating the passing of 2,500 axles.)


I and the rest of the people living on top off the construction are likely to be without or months to come.

Thank you Valerie,

Am now off to get some translation done - my French is really not up to the standard needed for the letter I am going to send.

Good heavens, I'm not surprised you're ranting. 24 hour construction for 10 months? Horrendous.

I'm not sure of what's local to you. France 3 for example have regional offices but you can send photos / event news etc in to their main site and presumably they distribute as necessary. What newspapers cover your area? They would (should) be interested in a story where however many residents/communities are being affected.

Here's a France 3 link in case it helps http://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/aquitaine/contactez-l-equipe-de-france-3-aquitaine.html