The following year, Philippe Essig presented the route that would later be built and at the same time addressed the other problem: financing. This route, further north than previous proposals, served Reims and Strasbourg. In order to avoid offending the cities of Nancy and Metz, which share an ancient rivalry, and avoid problems encountered during the construction of the A4 autoroute twenty years earlier, this route traveled directly to Strasbourg and passed midway between Nancy and Metz, where a single station would be built to serve both towns and improve relations between them.