Symbolically cutting the ribbon, the French President made a point of expressing his appreciation to everyone who contributed to this exceptional piece of work. He personally congratulated some of the workers who participated in the building of the line.

For RFF Chairman and CEO Hubert du Mesnil, “the presence of the President of the Republic is a testimony to the strategic importance of this line in the French and European railway landscape. It illustrates the extent to which the State values the commitments undertaken at the Grenelle Environnement (multiparty environmental debate). It is a great source of pride for the teams who built this line and in particular for RFF.”

Two directions for a line with a European dimension

The Rhine-Rhône high-speed line is the seventh of its kind in the French network, and the first to offer two new travel directions simultaneously:
A Paris-Province link that prolongs the Dijon service siding to the North of Franche-Comté, southern Alsace, and the German-speaking part of Switzerland.
A Province-Province link between the eastern regions of France, connected to Lyon with the Mediterranean boundary and to Strasbourg with Germany.

This line built by Réseau Ferré de France will offer new travelling opportunities to nearly 12 million French and European passengers on the French, Swiss and German networks. It received financial support from Switzerland and was chosen by the European Union as a “priority link” in terms of European transport networks.

190 km of high-speed lines between Dijon and Mulhouse

The 1st phase of the Eastern branch, inaugurated on 8 September, connects Villers-les-Pots (east of Dijon) to Petit-Croix (north-east of Belfort), with 140 km of tracks. It will open to commercial traffic on 11 December 2011.
The Rhine-Rhône high-speed line will offer the best time savings per kilometre built, reducing transport time by more than 1h30 on certain connections.

New line, new schedules

The commissioning of the line on 11 December 2011 will have a significant impact on a large number of train schedules in France. In total, 12 out of 21 regions in France will benefit directly from this project. The regulating of slots on the new Rhine-Rhône high-speed line will impact the schedules of a great number of trains. These will be reset accordingly, for instance by building new connections.

Safety target

For its first high-speed line project conducted from beginning to end, Réseau Ferré de France has strived for excellence and a rigorous approach towards railway safety. The total distance of 60,000 km was therefore checked with a special test convoy equipped with an onboard technical measurement laboratory to ensure passengers’ safety.

A model of sustainable development

For the first time on a high-speed railway line, Réseau Ferré de France carried out a sustainable development assessment that was revealed on 6 July this year.
Regarding employment, an average 6,100 people per year participated in this great venture. The work site gave 1,000 people who until now had been cut off from job opportunities or experienced social insecurity, access to the job market thanks to a special employment programme.