Episode 130: Integrating High Speed Rail Stations with Communities in France Part 2

German Marshall Fund fellow Eric Eidlin guest hosts the podcast this week for part II of our discussion of French high-speed rail and cities. Joining Eric are 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. This week we chat about how large projects in France are treated as projects of national significance and the expectations on these projects.  There's also a discussion of the Paris region's over 1,483 mayors and the way the Grand Paris project has created better governance structures.  Finally Stephan and Etienne discuss their perceptions of Diridon station and how we can create value with these opportunities.