The SEA Tours-Bordeaux high-speed rail line is on track

The SEA Tours-Bordeaux high-speed rail line is on track

Feb 5, 2015  | Civil engineering 

The SEA Tours-Bordeaux high-speed rail line is on track
(Photo by: Vinci)

In 900 days, when the SEA Tours-Bordeaux high-speed rail line begins operating at the end of July 2017, the trip between Paris and Bordeaux will take only two hours and five minutes (while it takes 3 hours today). Track laying and railway equipment installation are under way and the railway offering is being sketched out.

The new South-Europe Atlantic (SEA) high-speed rail line between Tours and Bordeaux is continental Europe's largest worksite and a strategically important factor in regional attractiveness and development. Ultimately, 18 million travellers (a 20% increase from the current number) per year will take advantage of the new line, which will bring people and regions closer together.

An unprecedented logistical challenge

As the infrastructure works draw to a close, the South Europe Atlantic high-speed line has entered the railway works phase, with the first 432 metre continuously welded rails (CWRs) laid along the roadbed of the future SEA HSL near the railway works staging base at Villognon, Charente.

VINCI and its partners have until mid-2016, when testing is to start, to meet an unprecedented logistical challenge and build a 300 km double track line between Tours and Bordeaux.COSEA and LISEA have set up an efficient partnership.

The design-build construction joint venture, COSEA, led by the VINCI Group's Contracting business, is in charge of laying the tracks and installing the catenaries and the full complement of signalling, telecommunication and power supply equipment. The first train tests are scheduled to get under way in mid-2016. In 2017, COSEA will hand the infrastructure over to the Vinci Concessions-led concession company, LISEA, which will operate the line until 2061.

Another standout feature of the project is the innovation involved in its construction, from the CWR "pusher" wagon (link) to the remotely controlled ballast cars, or "laying machines" that continuously place the sleepers. These techniques enhance the safety of these operations and accelerate their execution.

LISEA gears up for 2017

LISEA has already begun the technical dialogue with RFF (Réseau Ferré de France) about its future management of the infrastructure and with the SNCF about the assignment of "train paths" – national railway time slots available to the operator for train traffic.

The planned opening of the lines to European competition in 2019 will re-shuffle the deck and enable LISEA to acquire new potential customers alongside the SNCF. In addition to shortening the journey time, the project aims to optimise the use of the new infrastructure by creating an offering that meets the expectations of regions, individual users and businesses alike.

Via Vinci
Image,video ©: Vinci