Definition

An alliance of cities and metropolitan areas demanding the construction of railways lines in the Mediterranean corridor and the deployment of border services for high-speed passengers and goods.

Goals

The aim of this network goes beyond working to achieve high-speed connections, but at the time it took on this name for the group of cities, so that it acted as a boost for its creation.  Furthermore, the roadmap deployed jointly by the dozen cities regarding the railway project is wider; it is necessary to achieve a global improvement of the railway corridor as a whole: high speed, but also regional trains, both for passengers and goods.  Therefore, since 2012, the name of this lobby was extended to include the railway interconnection of the Mediterranean corridor.  

Participation of Barcelona

The group of cities for high speed was an initiative of the City Council of Barcelona and was formalised by the Mayors’ Summit that took place on 16th October 2008. The Mayor of Barcelona led the constitution of this interest group to pressure the competent authorities so as to accelerate the project of the high-speed railway connection between Catalonia and France, and to ensure its correct development.  This interest group is currently made up of a dozen cities from Catalonia and the south of France: Barcelona, Beziers, Carcassonne, Figueres, Girona, Lleida, Montpellier, Narbonne, Nimes, Perpignan, Reus, Tarragona and Toulouse.

So far, nine Mayors’ summits have taken place, which have approved the corresponding declarations:

First, Barcelona, 16th October 2008

Second, Montpellier, 5th March 2009

Third, Narbonne, 29th October 2009

Fourth, Perpignan, 30th September 2010

Fifth, Figueres, 20th January 2012

Sixth, Beziers, 19th April 2013

Seventh, in Girona, 3rd October 2014

Eighth, in Montpellier, 13th October 2015

Ninth, in Tarragona, 12th January 2017