Letter from Strasbourg:It has long been a pet gripe for MEPs, staffers, journalists and everybody else who has to make the monthly pilgrimage to awkwardly located Strasbourg, writes Mary Fitzgerald
Requiring pre-dawn starts, a hopscotch of trains, planes and automobiles - not to mention endless patience - getting to the European Parliament plenary sessions has never been easy. But with the arrival of the TGV Est Européen, MEPs have a whole new Strasbourg commuting equation to work out and it might just prove that bit less stressful.
As the latest addition to France's celebrated network of high-speed trains, the TGV Est slices the usual travel time between Strasbourg and Paris by almost half, to two hours and 20 minutes. The newly laid track will draw other European cities a little closer too - Frankfurt and Stuttgart, once some six hours from the French capital by train, are now reachable in under four hours; Zurich in four hours and 30 minutes; and Luxembourg in just over two hours.
Not surprisingly, the train has been heavily booked since its inaugural journey on June 10th and Strasbourg's airport is bracing itself for a sharp drop in traffic.
To mark the occasion, French news magazine Le Point devoted its cover story last week to Strasbourg, echoing local feeling when it remarked in a special accompanying supplement that the TGV Est had been a long time coming. Despite being home to institutions such as the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights, as well as hosting the European Parliament's plenary sessions, Strasbourg has always been cursed with poor transport links.
Aware of this, the EU earmarked the eastern TGV line for priority as far back as the early 1990s but the project got bogged down in squabbles over financing.
The €4 billion venture was eventually resurrected with backing from several partners including the EU, the French and Luxembourg governments, rail operators, and regional governments in France. More than 10,000 workers were employed on the project and 78,000 tonnes of steel - the equivalent of eight Eiffel towers - were used in the line's construction.
The 52-strong TGV fleet will streak along the 406km (252-mile) track at speeds of up to 320km/h (199mph), the sleek trains faster than any other on the TGV network.
Last week's European Parliament sitting ensured most seats on the Paris-Strasbourg route were booked well in advance.
Relieved to avoid the long queues and interminable security checks at Charles de Gaulle airport, passengers settled back in reclining ergonomic seats and made the most of the extra legroom. Arriving in Strasbourg, it was obvious how seriously the inhabitants of France's seventh-largest city are taking what Le Point termed l'effet TGV.
Streets were festooned with banners and flags welcoming the TGV and celebrations were in full swing, with restaurants and bars offering themed menus and happy hours. More than one patisserie were selling miniature trains made of chocolate.
Hoping their home town will now become known for something other than the European Parliament and choucroute, the Strasbourgeois are determined to follow the example of Marseilles, Lyons and Lille - all transformed by the TGV lifeline.
The city's hotel and tourism industry expects as many as 4.6 million visitors per year now that the TGV link is up and running, an increase of about 30 per cent from last year.
The area around the 19th-century train station - recently encased in a spectacular pod-like glass structure - is a hive of activity as antiquated hotels undergo renovation to attract a new wave of tourists and fit in with the rail terminal's €60 million facelift.
Other Strasbourg residents look forward to increased business opportunities and speculate on a possible property boom - apartment prices in central Strasbourg have already climbed as high as some parts of Paris.
"It's always been a mystery to us why Strasbourg had to wait so long for the TGV," one local hotel manager told The Irish Times. "But now we can say our city is finally on the map."