The South interconnection for high-speed lines in Greater Paris

 

The project includes the construction of a new high-speed train station in Orly, connected to the airport, and an optional second station in Val-de-Marne (Villeneuve-Saint-Georges sector) or Seine-et-Marne (Sénart sector).

This project forms part of legislation linked to the implementation of the Environment Round Table Act of 3 August 2009 and is included on a list of 2,000 km of new lines that are due to start construction by 2020.

 

The construction of a line dedicated to high-speed trains in order to bolster the high-speed network and the creation of new stations in the south of the Greater Paris region aim to improve:

Links between the regions: so-called "inter-sector" high-speed trains, which run on the interconnection network around Paris, provide province-to-province links with no connections in Paris. At present, these trains run on a standard line between Massy and Valenton, which is also used by regional traffic (RER C) and freight traffic. This mixture of flows and the anticipated increase in traffic make this line, positioned at the centre of the network, a particularly fragile link in the long term. The creation of a line dedicated to high-speed trains will strengthen the network.

Services in the south of the Greater Paris region: 90% of high-speed train traffic begins or terminates at a Paris station, even though Paris only accounts for 20% of the population in the Greater Paris region. However, traffic at the Greater Paris high-speed stations of Massy TGV, Marne-la-Vallée-Chessy and Roissy-Charles De Gaulle Airport is experiencing strong growth due to their advantage for journeys between Greater Paris and the provinces.

Intermodal transport between trains and planes: the connection of major national airports with the high-speed network is an objective of the planning act related to the implementation of the Environment Round Table. At Paris-Orly airport in 2020, 1.1 million passengers will connect to planes via trains or vice versa.

In the long term, the project will also help to ease the risks of saturation at stations in Lyon and Montparnasse. Lastly, the introduction of a line dedicated to high-speed trains will end the mixture of high-speed and RER C traffic, leaving the latter free to pursue its development.
 
 

Réseau Ferré de France is submitting for debate three groups of proposals, called scenarios. These scenarios A, B and C, along with their variants, provide contrasting options so as to illustrate the possible solutions:

Scenario A: "Direct tunnel"
Scenario B: "Pair up with the existing line"
Scenario C: "Tunnel to Sénart"

The project plans to create a new line, either paired up at ground level with the current line or in a tunnel, between 16 and 31 km in length, at a cost of between €1.4 billion and €3.3 billion, depending on the scenario and its variants.

 

A public debate is scheduled to take place from December 2011 until the spring of 2011. It is organised and run by the Individual Public Debate Commission (CPDP), an independent body appointed by the National Public Debate Commission (CNDP).
Comprehensive information on the organisation of the debate and on this project, particularly the project owner’s support dossier, has been made available by the CPDP at the following dedicated website:
www.debatpublic-interconnexionsudlgv.org
 
 

The functional pre-studies and the public debate are financed by the government and the Greater Paris region, as part of the State/Region Strategic Plans, and Réseau Ferré de France.
 
 

2020-2025: commencement of service.