PROJECT manager Société du Grand Paris (SGP) has awarded a contract to a consortium of Colas Rail and Alstom to supply track and overhead catenary systems and equipment for Phase 2 of Grand Paris Express Metro's Line 17.
The 26.5km, nine-station Line 17 will cross 13 municipalities, serving an estimated 565,000 passengers and providing an estimated end-to-end journey time of less than 25 minutes. The line is expected to open in stages between 2026 and 2030.
The Colas Rail and Alstom consortium will be responsible for supplying and laying a total of 10km of track, constructing the rigid overhead catenary system and installing linear equipment over the section of line between Le Bourget Airport and Parc des Expositions, near Roissy. The project will involve working on a 3km section of line in a tunnel, on embankments and on viaducts. The Phase 2 project will involve up to 200 employees and work is expected to begin by mid-2024 and be completed in 2028.
Colas Rail and Alstom have previously worked together on Grand Paris Express when in 2018 they won the first systems contract for the Line 15 Southeast section, with responsibility for supply, installation and commissioning of track, overhead line and linear equipment.
Colas Rail, the consortium leader, says Line 15 was used as an opportunity to test different processes and working methods to find the optimum solutions for future contracts. This included building a full-scale model e of the Line 15 tunnel, enabling its teams to better visualise the layout of the tunnelling equipment required.
Other innovations the consortium has introduced include an ECTR gantry for spacing and squaring operations on sleepers to increase productivity, allowing construction teams to complete 250m of tracklaying a day compared to 150m with traditional equipment. The partners have also developed a works train to install rigid catenary equipment over long distances in tunnels.
Colas Rail is also the leader of a 50:50 consortium with Eiffage Énergie Systèmes that won a €26m SGP traction equipment and works contract for power systems on Grand Paris Express Line 18.
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