Abstract
In the current climate, defining priorities between large transportation projects, which include high speed lines, is not favourable to the improvement of rail access in urban peripheries. Using the example of the Pyrénées-Orientales, department located in the Southern tip of France bordering Spain, this essay aims at highlighting the special interest in rail service for urbain peripheries. Due to uncertainties about the realisation of the Montpellier-Perpignan high speed section and about the night train service - that might be an alternative to high-speed trains to access the capital - the department experience the deterioration of its intercity railway access for medium and long distance trains. Beyond considerations specific to the rail system, the example of the Pyrénées-Orientales enables us to identify a set of frames of reference used to defend the rail service and learn about the representations the local stakeholders have concerning it and the effects they impute upon it.