Issue 6, 2011 / 6 December 2011 /
On 8 September 2011, Réseau Ferré de France (RFF) inaugurated the first part of the eastern branch of the Rhine-Rhône high-speed line. Included in the design and construction of this line, with its major socio-economic challenges, was a series of innovative environmental measures to ensure its long-term sustainability.
Rhine-Rhône HSL: the project
A European dimension
The Rhine-Rhône HSL will further strengthen France’s position in a Europe that is gradually expanding towards the East. Financial support from Switzerland and EU ‘priority link’ status, under the Trans-European Transport Network programme, both underline its recognised importance at community level.
Looking at the map of the present and future European network of high-speed lines, the strategic position of the Rhine-Rhône line is immediately apparent, as a major feeder at the core of mainland Europe and as a link between the different European territories. (more…)
Issue 6 2009, Past issues / 12 December 2009 /
Enhancing and developing the national rail network to promote rail transport in line with the principles of sustainable development, is the objective set out in the opening lines of the Act establishing Réseau Ferré de France (RFF) in 1997.
For the rail network manager, sustainable development is not just an abstract concept, nor is it a foregone conclusion but more a case of work in progress in relation to new collective milestone benchmarks such as the battle against global warming and loss of biodiversity, environmental risk control, lifestyle integration and overall social responsibilities.
To comply with French undertakings in this connection, RFF has embarked on a campaign of sustainable development in relation to its new challenges as a network manager: market opening, infrastructure modernisation, business model and governance. To improve nationwide accessibility and offer the prospect of sustainable less oil-dependent mobility, efforts to attenuate its carbon footprint are naturally a major target. (more…)
Issue 6 2008, Past issues / 3 December 2008 /
Facilitating and encouraging the use of goods trains in Europe is one of the objectives regularly repeated by the European Commission. The situation has never been as favourable to rail transport as it is today yet it is still struggling to outclass road transport in market shares. The Corridor concept has been designed to help it do so, but removing borders is not as simple as it sounds.
Given the increasing improvement in the efficiency of road transport, it is well-known that rail transport will have to increase its competitiveness and, more importantly, its quality. Its advantages have never been so obvious, with an increase in trade, soaring fuel prices and environmental concerns more than ever to the fore. It was in an effort to enhance these advantages that the idea of promoting a European rail network was launched, mainly for freight traffic and offering better quality of service in terms of time, reliability and capacity.
The 2001 White Paper on the European transport policy already provided for the establishment of ‘multimodal freight Corridors’ and, when it was reviewed in 2006, it still retained the project of a ‘rail freight network’. During that year, the European Commission stated, in one of its communications1, that there was a need for measures to encourage the implementation of the project, as this would be consistent with the process of establishing a single market. (more…)
Issue 6 2007, Past issues / 26 November 2007 /
On 25 May 2007, Anne-Marie Idrac, the president of the SNCF Group and Hubert du Mesnil, the President of Réseau Ferré de France, signed a new infrastructure management agreement to cover the financial years from 2007 to 2010 inclusive, for maintenance and upgrading of the French national railway network.
There are three concerned areas. Firstly, there is path plotting, of which an annual sum of approximately €32 million has been set aside for. Then operations, that is to say operational traffic management and traffic follow-up. An annual amount increasing from €794 million in 2007 to €861 million in 2010 will be dedicated to this area, which includes the safety and regularity assessment missions. Finally, the management agreement concerns the routine maintenance and major maintenance of railway facilities, for an amount decreasing from €1,890 million to €1,860 million over the term of the contract. (more…)
Issue 5 2007, Past issues / 26 September 2007 /
The dimensioning of power supply systems for railways is complex. To obtain a power supply that fulfils the traffic demands over its lifespan, improving or upgrading of the power system cannot be avoided. The many planned projects for the northern transalpine line Lyon – St Jean de Maurienne and the southern alpine corridor call for a study to dimension and assess their power supply in order to weigh investment proposals.
As part of the new rail link between Lyon and Turin, the 52km-long Franco – Italian base tunnel underneath the Alps will be built. The route from Lyon to the base tunnel crosses the Alpine Corridor, a North/South corridor linking Geneva-Chambéry-Grenoble. Due to the performance required in terms of both capacity and speed, RFF (Réseau Ferré de France) is planning two separate lines between Lyon and the Alpine corridor. One is a 78km-long high-speed line for passenger trains running between Lyon (St Exupéry) and the north of Chambéry, which will cross the Dullin and l’Epine massifs via two successive tunnels. The other is a primarily new line for freight trains between Lyon (St Exupéry, where it connects to the Lyon Bypass line) and the Alpine Corridor, to the south of Montmélian, which will cross the Chartreuse massif via a tunnel. To the east of the Alpine corridor, passenger transport requirements are such that freight and passenger traffic can be grouped together on a single new line which will join St Jean de Maurienne via tunnels through the Belledonne and Glandon/Rocheray massifs, and will subsequently continue on towards Turin through the Franco – Italian base tunnel. Moreover, there is talk of establishing a short-cut between the lines Lyon – Grenoble and Valence – Moirans by 2020 in order to enhance the conditions of the line leading to Grenoble, a project referred to as Shunt de Rives. (more…)
Issue 2 2007, Past issues / 3 April 2007 /
The Haut Bugey line project is one of several Franco-Suisse projects. Its aim is to improve train links between France and Switzerland, as per the agreement signed in 1999 by French and Swiss governments. Although the project is entirely located in France, the Swiss government provides close to one third of the financing for the €340 million project, in line with the expected benefits for Switzerland.
Before the opening of the first TGV line, Paris-Genève passengers travelled by way of Lausanne. This journey usually involved a change of train, and thus offered a rather poor service and an uncompetitive travel time of approximately 6 hours.
With the opening in 1981 of the Paris to Lyon TGV line (LN1), the journey time between Paris and Genève fell to 3 hours and 30 minutes. The route was changed, and trains began running at high-speed between Paris and Macon, then leaving the high-speed line at Macon and carrying on through Bourg-en-Bresse, Amberieu, Culoz, Bellegarde-sur-Valserine and on to Genève. This helped greatly in building up an efficient train service between Paris and Genève. Travel time was further reduced to 3 hours and 22 minutes when the maximum operational speed on the LN1 High-Speed line was increased from 270km/h to 300km/h in 2004. Such travel time however remained just above the 3 hour threshold where train takes advantage over planes for that type of journey. Journey times will not be expected to increase in the near future, neither on the high-speed line nor on the classical line between Macon and Bellegarde-sur-Valserine, due to the curvature and gradient of the line. Besides, the section between Macon and Amberieu also accommodates freight traffic, often conflicting with passenger traffic.
To gain a journey time below the 3 hour threshold, various options, involving boring long tunnels through the Jura Mountains, were studied but later abandoned because of high costs. One option, however, appeared to be cost-effective while meeting the target. This option was to modernize an existing line linking Bourg-en-Bresse and Bellegarde-sur-Valserine by way of Nantua. This route is 47km shorter than the current one (65km long via Nantua against 112km long via Amberieu) and it was expected that it will cut journey times by 20 minutes. Another advantage is to free, for freight traffic, train paths currently used by TGVs on the Bourg-en-Bresse – Amberieu section.
The Bourg-en-Bresse – Bellegarde-sur-Valserine line
The so-called ‘carpate’s line’, linking Bourg-en-Bresse and Bellegarde-sur-Valserine via Nantua, was in operation from the late 19th Century until 2005.
Operation of the section between Bourg-en-Bresse and the junction onto Oyonax (hereafter called first section) started in 1877 and was suspended in August 2005 until modernization works are completed.
Operation of the section between junction onto Oyonax and Bellegarde-sur-Valserine (hereafter called second section) started in 1882 and was stopped in 1990.
The 65km long railway runs through the mountainous region of the Haut Bugey, reaching an altitude of 600m by the Lake of Sylans. Sylans is known as a very cold area where, until not so long ago, ice was extracted from the lake and stored in deep wells to be sent to Paris or Marseilles almost all year round. From Nantua to Bellegarde-sur-Valserine, snow can be expected for at least three months a year, sometimes as late as April.
The line curves around peaks, travelling up and down steep gradients (often 2%). Many curves have radiuses of 300m or less. After modernisation, operation will start again on the whole of the line. The first section will accommodate both TGVs and regional traffic originating either from Lyon or Bourg-en-Bresse and carrying on onto Oyonax and Saint Claude while only TGVs will travel the second section.
The project
Preliminary studies started in the late 90s, at the time RFF was created to take over the French railways infrastructure from SNCF. Concertation procedures, both within the French administration and with the public were completed in early 2003 for the former and by the end of 2003 for the latter. The Swiss government confirmed its financing (€110 million) in September 2003. The project was approved and it was decided to go on with the next phase. The consulting engineer was chosen through a competitive bid process to perform detailed design and prepare tender documents for the works. That phase started in 2004 and was completed in early 2006 with regards to the detailed design and is still going on for railway equipment tenders.
Given the area that the project is going through, environment is a crucial issue. Although noise levels will be lower than the ones generated by the rolling stock operated up until 2005 on the jointed existing track, an approximate length of 4000m of noise protection walls will be erected.
Running through highly renowned sites such as Nantua and the Sylans lakes at the foot of cliffs, special measures have to be taken to ensure preservation while making sure safety is maintained and reinforced. Discreet safety nets will be installed in the slopes facing the lake so that in a few years time they will be hardly noticeable.
Although diesel trains are prohibited in these areas, the track will be made water-tight when passing close to water resources used for human consumption. Drastic safety measures are taken while the works are performed, such as closing down sensitive water resources and providing alternative ones for the duration of the works.
One of the main characteristics of the project is to use the existing platform. Besides the new viaduct in Bellegarde-sur-Valserine there is only one location where the project gets away from the existing platform. Leaving Bourg-en-Bresse the track was supposed to follow a large curve which would allow a maximum speed of 140km/h for a few kilometres. But during the design phase, a European-protected species was discovered in the area and, to ensure its preservation, the project had to be changed and the speed had to be brought down from 140 to 120km/h.
In early 2005, the project was declared as ‘urgent and in the public interest’. This allows expropriation should the need arise. Until now, all properties have been bought after negotiation based on market price. Tender procedures for the civil works were carried out in early 2005 and bids were received in October of the same year. Bid analysis and negotiations took place at the end of 2005 – early 2006.
Financing for the construction phase was eventually totally secured by mid-2006, and authorization to begin with the works was received in September 2006. Civil works contractors were notified in November 2006 and the final detailed design for civil works began while all safety measures related to the works, such as road traffic and water resources protection, were implemented.
Railway equipment tenders for track, catenary systems, telecommunications and GSM-R will be released during 2007.
The civil works are mainly modifications and adjustments to the electrification gauge of 80 bridges and 11 tunnels, totalling 7.4km in length. Some bridges will be totally rebuilt.
Tunnels will be made water tight, carefully avoiding disturbance to existing water paths that feed surroundings villages. They will also be made safer by installing lighting, water tanks and by keeping rail-road fire engines ready to intervene at specific locations along the line and through other safety measures.
Because of all the safety risks involved, each and every level crossing has been carefully studied and actions will be taken to cancel as many of them as possible. Altogether, 15 level crossings will be suppressed.Two level crossings will be replaced by special undertrack paths for cattle, while two others, classified as potentially dangerous, will be replaced by bridges.
Six passing loops shall be lengthened and renewed and a new TGV station shall be built in Nurieux to ease transportation to and from the French plastic valley of Oyonax.
Arriving in Bellegarde-sur-Valserine, a new bridge will allow trains to proceed on to Genève without reversing. Because of the rather steep slope (a gradient of about 2%), a shunting track with a buffer stop will take on any drifting train.
A multimodal platform with three new car parks will allow easy transfer between TGVs, regional trains and buses in Bellegarde-sur-Valserine. The ‘flying saucer’ shaped new station, besides being most functional, is also environmentally friendly, requiring very little energy to cool or heat.
Curves will be eased to allow for a slight increase in speed and a smoother ride. Maximum speeds will be 120km/h leaving Bourg-en-Bresse going to Ceyzeriat and in the Mornay tunnel until the train reaches Brion. For the remaining part of the line, the speed will be 80 to 100km/h depending on the curves and gradient. 65km of track (LWR) and ballast will be totally renewed. The line will be electrified at 2×25 KV 50 Hz with the construction of a 2×25 KV substation at Cise-Bolozon. A rigid catenary system shall be implemented in the longer tunnels and the line will be re-signalled with automatic block colour light signal and KVB beacons. Solid state pc-based interlockings will be installed at each passing loop and the line will be remote-controlled from Bellegarde-sur-Valserine where the same SSI equipment, with a human-machine interface, will be installed in a brand new cabin. A GSM-R telecommunication system will also be implemented to reinforce safety. Works completion date is set for the second half of 2009.
About the author
Jean-Damien Bierre is an ENSEEIHT graduate (electrotechnical engineer). He led important projects abroad for French firms (subways of Hong Kong and Athens) and was a manager of the Danish branch of Spie Enertrans from 1997-2004. He joined Réseau Ferré de France (RFF) in 2004 as Project Manager of the Haut Bugey mission.
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