Abstract
The implementation of the Eastern Europe high speed railway line, expected in June 2007, will reduce the duration of the journey between Reims and Paris from 1h35 to 45 minutes in average, but it will serve unequally Champagne-Ardenne, in favouring mainly the Marne department thanks to the direct servicing of Reims, and the Ardennes in a lower extent, to the detriment of the Aube and of the Haute-Marne. What will be the potential effects of the modifications of the temporal proximity both between Champagne-Ardenne and Ile-de-France, and within Champagne-Ardenne? Prospective analyses display a high diversity, from the most pessimistic assumptions (breaking up the region) to the most optimistic ones (emergence of a large regional centre spreading its effects all over the region). Whereas traditionally, such effects have been grasped in terms of structuring effects, the aim of this article is to show that, besides the features of the planned servicing and besides the social and economic potentialities of the region, these effects depend on the way the local forces will organize their new local relationships, with coordinated accompanying policies. Therefore, in Champagne-Ardenne, the pattern will depend on the capacity of local forces to favour the emergence of new kinds of coordination in the frame of a revival of the territory’s project.