The future railway line represents a total investment of more than 3.3 billion current euro, and is the first public-private partnership contract signed to build a high-speed line.

The private partner, Eiffage Rail Express, will be responsible for financing, designing, building and maintaining the line for a period of 25 years. In exchange, it will receive public contributions from local authorities and Réseau Ferré de France during the construction phase. Subsequently, in the operational phase, it will receive rent that will correspond in part to the State’s contribution to the investment, and in part to renovation costs carried by Réseau Ferré de France.

Beneficial to western France as well as the European railway network

After a 5-year design and construction phase, the line will significantly improve accessibility in western France by bringing all Britton towns 37 minutes closer to Rennes, and reducing the travel time to Angers, Nantes and beyond with 8 minutes. Paris will be a mere 1h30 from Rennes.

The Brittany-Loire Valley High-Speed Line project is part of an overall regional planning scheme to launch 2,000 km of new high-speed lines between now and 2020, following decisions made during the Grenelle de l’Environnement (multi-party environmental debate). This will form a new railway link in the process of building a European network which will improve access to rural areas.

Schedule
Study/consultation/procedures: May 2011 – July 2012
Preparation: July 2012
Excavation: December 2012
Completion: Autumn 2016

The ‘“Virgule” of Sablé-sur-Sarthe’

An innovative concept for a high-speed regional service was included in the partnership agreement with Eiffage Rail Express. The ‘“Virgule” of Sablé-sur-Sarthe’, a 3.6 km crescent-shaped line (or “virgule”, meaning “comma”) linking two sections of the new high-speed line, will eventually provide direct connections between Rennes / Laval / Sablé / Angers / Nantes through regional services that will use the high-speed line for a part of their route. The cost of 36.3 million euro will be carried by local authorities, the State and Réseau Ferré de France, and the construction work will be done by Eiffage as part of the process of building the Brittany-Loire Valley high-speed line.