The government did not waste any time; just a few months after the conclusions of the ‘Ambition France Transport’ mobility conference (July 2025), it drew up a draft framework bill on transport.

The explanatory memorandum sets out the key provisions of this bill, some of which implement the conclusions of the report.

The explanatory memorandum begins by outlining the need for massive investment in the transport sector for several reasons: the sector’s ageing infrastructure, the modal shift required to combat climate change, resilience, and meeting citizens’ needs.

The main provisions of the draft bill are as follows.

Firstly, a multi-annual financial programme (spanning ten years) for transport funding is being introduced. This will provide project owners and their suppliers with greater clarity regarding the technical, material and human resources they need to deploy, enable better coordination amongst infrastructure co-funders, and secure the resources required to finance these investments.

Secondly, investments must priorities existing infrastructure.

Thirdly, new resources allocated to mobility must be directed towards this sector.

Fourthly, organizing authorities are granted new levers in pricing, and an obligation to index transport service fares to inflation is introduced.

Fifthly, the draft bill aims to encourage private funding through partnership contracts.

Beyond these principles, the Act provides for an extension of the ‘golden rule’ mechanism for SNCF Réseau, notably because SNCF Réseau has been unable to generate the expected revenue.

The Act introduces genuine exceptions to the principles of administrative law and public property law. Thus, assets forming part of the State’s public domain and allocated to SNCF Réseau may be made available for use by a private company for the purpose of financing works on the national rail network.

The role of the public body Société des grands projets is strengthened in relation to SERMs:

• It has a public interest remit for the development of SERMs; this is now part of its remit. It makes available to the State and local authorities ‘its expertise in project management and financial engineering’

• It may coordinate the actions of project owners

Regarding SERMs, the Transport Code previously provided for the creation of a public interest group or a local coordination body. Reference is now made solely to a ‘local governance structure’ comprising project owners, funders and transport organizing authorities. This structure may take the form of a public interest group benefiting from certain exemptions from the ordinary legal regime.

The Act facilitates the use of agreements on the organisation, funding and pricing of cross-border transport with neighboring foreign authorities, which may be States and not necessarily local authorities.

Particular attention is paid to coach stations. The draft law includes, amongst the remit of local transport organizing authorities (IDFM and SYTRAL), the planning, design and implementation of facilities for coach transport services, with a view to sharing infrastructure across different services.

The government is demonstrating a genuine commitment to the transport sector, which has been constantly evolving in recent years to adapt to local and national circumstances, make progress in the fight against climate change, and promote the sector’s sustainability and development.