Talking Headways: How France Melds High-Speed Rail With Cities, Part 2
Part two of our discussion of French high-speed rail and cities covers how France approaches infrastructure projects of national significance, the challenges of building the Grand Paris Express rail expansion, and the latent opportunities of San Jose's Diridon station.
By
Jeff Wood
12:11 PM EST on February 10, 2017
In part two of our discussion of French high-speed rail and cities, guest host and German Marshall Fund fellow Eric Eidlin interviews Stephan de Fay, executive director of Bordeaux Euratlantique, the public agency overseeing the redevelopment of Bordeaux’s main train station to accommodate several new high-speed rail lines by 2020, and Etienne Tricaud, president and CEO of AREP, the French railway’s architecture office.
The conversation covers how France approaches infrastructure projects of national significance, the challenges of building the Grand Paris Express rail expansion, and the latent opportunities of San Jose’s Diridon station.
Jeff Wood is the creator of the Talking Headways podcast and editor of the newsletter The Overhead Wire.
Read More:
More from Streetsblog USA
How to Fight a Freeway 101
A new guide gives advocates the basics to building a campaign against harmful infrastructure in their neighborhoods — and the best time to start is now.
November 9, 2026
Monday’s Headlines Come Heavy or Not at All
The Transport Workers Union takes aim at Amtrak's new policy allowing guns onboard trains.
November 9, 2026
The California DMV’s Culture of Obstruction
California’s DMV is responsible for managing some of the biggest risks on the state’s roads, but researchers say a culture of secrecy and obstruction makes it nearly impossible for the public to access basic information about dangerous drivers and disabled parking placard fraud.
November 6, 2026
Opinion: I (Almost) Killed a Pedestrian With My Car
Every driver has a story or two about a near-miss traffic crash, even when they were doing everything right. Can we get those numbers down with safer systems?
November 6, 2026