Unhappily, it tends to validate the scando-greenie article. The lesson is that the national networks will tend to favour the prestigious HSR lines, at the expense of the humdrum regional services, unless there is a counter-power pushing back. In the present case, the Greens voted down the SNCF's proposed regional schedule, which will oblige them to revise it and present a new version, if I have understood correctly (the Greens, including Kohlhaas, are in coalition with the Socialists in the regional government, but voted with the right on this measure to defeat it... the Front National voted with the socialists).

The Rhone Alpes regional government (the French regions have very little power, sadly) has been at the forefront of rejuvenating regional networks, and its model has now been adopted in most regions;

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II}