Perpignan–Barcelona high-speed rail line

Perpignan–Barcelona high-speed rail line

Figueres-Vilafant: first TGV arrival from Paris,
December 2010
Overview
Type high-speed rail
System TGV, AVE
Status Operational
Locale France (Languedoc-Roussillon),
Spain (Catalonia)
Termini Gare de Perpignan
Barcelona Sants railway station
Operation
Opened 2013
Owner SNCF Réseau (French side),
Adif (Spanish side)
Operator(s) SNCF,
Renfe Operadora
Rolling stock SNCF TGV Duplex
AVE Class 100 (from 2014)
RENFE Class 252 (freight services)
Technical
Line length 175.5 km (109.1 mi)
Number of tracks Double track
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification 25 kV 50 Hz
Route map
Legend

Perpignan–Barcelona
high-speed rail line

Line length: 175.88 km (109 mi)
Track gauge: 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Legend
Madrid–Barcelona high-speed rail line
to Zaragosa and Madrid
 175.88 km Barcelona Sants
Provença-Mallorca tunnel
Barcelona Sagrera
Barcelona avoiding line
 Montmeló
 Llinars (crossover)
 Riells
 Viloví de Oñar
82.1 km Girona
Vilademuls crossover
junction with conventional line Barcelona–Cerbère
47.9 km Figueres–Vilafantnew station for both lines
Figueres Tunnel (1750 m)
 44.38 km International Section Ends
 Viaducte de la Muga (656 m)
 Viaducte del Ricardell (570 m)
 Viaducte del Bosquerós (90 m)
 Viaducte del Gou (270 m)
 Viaducte del Llobregat d’Empordà Nr.2 (630 m)
 Viaducte del Llobregat d’Empordà Nr.1 (108 m)
 25.5 km Pirineus Tunnel
 24.5 km French - Spanish Border
 17.1 km Perthus Tunnel (8,300 m)
15.6 km Tec River
14.3 km Elna to Arles line
 12.9 km crossover
 8.4 km A9 Motorway (267 m)
 D612A road
Rand River (180 m)
 0.00 km International Section starts
Classic line to Vilafranca de Conflent
 Le Soler
Classic line to Portbou
 Perpignan
 Classic line powered at 1.5kV
 Nîmes
 LGV Méditerranée to Paris
Overview map of the high-speed connections from Barcelona towards France, with the year of opening.
Muga Viaducto in the Pont de Molins village, without noise protection screens

The Perpignan–Barcelona high-speed line is an international high-speed rail line between France and Spain. The line consists of a 175.5-kilometre (109.1 mi) railway, of which 24.6 km are in France and 150.8 km are in Spain. It crosses the French–Spanish border via the 8.3-kilometre (5.2 mi) Perthus Tunnel bored under the Perthus Pass,[1] connecting two small cities on opposite sides of the border, Perpignan in Roussillon, France, and Figueres in Catalonia, Spain. The line extends to Barcelona, and this part is sometimes referenced as an extension of the Madrid–Barcelona high-speed rail line. The Perpignan–Barcelona line is a part of the Mediterranean Corridor.[2][3]

History

The construction contract for the international section of the line between Perpignan and Figueres was awarded on 17 February 2004 to the TP Ferro consortium, a joint venture of Eiffage (France) and Dragados (Spain).[1] The group constructed the line for an estimated cost of approximately €1.1 billion, and will operate it for 53 years.[4] It received a public subsidy of €540 million, split between the European Union, France and Spain. Test running started in November 2008, and the international section officially opened on 17 February 2009, but services were delayed until December 2010 because the station at Figueres was not finished.[5][6][7] Services in the section started on 19 December 2010 with a TGV service from Paris via Perpignan to Figueres–Vilafant and regular freight traffic started on 21 December 2010. Eventually the 44.5-kilometre (27.7 mi) international section was officially inaugurated on 27 January 2011.[8]

The Spanish 131-kilometre (81.4 mi) Barcelona–Figueres section was originally planned to open in 2009 but there have been delays in building a 4-kilometre tunnel in Girona, the first phase of which was finished in September 2010,[9] and controversy over the route between Sants and Sagrera stations in Barcelona.[10] The section was eventually completed in January 2013 at a cost of €3.7 billion and the entire line officially opened on 8 January 2013.[11][12][13]

Line

The track on the new line is standard gauge using 25 kV AC railway electrification at 50 Hz, consistent with the French LGV and Spanish AVE high-speed rail networks.[14] The line is used by both passenger and freight trains, the maximum grade being limited to 1.2%.[14] The design speed is 350 km/h.[15]

This line was the first connection constructed without a break-of-gauge[16] and the first international connection to the standard-gauge Spanish AVE network. Traditional Spanish rail lines are broad gauge based on the Spanish vara 1,668 mm (5 ft 5 21⁄32 in), so rail connections between France and Spain have traditionally involved a break-of-gauge, implying that passengers and cargo must either change trains, or the trains must pass through gauge-changing installations at the border. Another same-gauge connection to France is planned near the Atlantic coast in the Basque country, and a third link via Huesca crossing the central Pyrenees mountains through a 40 km tunnel is under study.[17]

France has left-hand traffic and Spain right-hand, so a flyover was built around 10 km north of the border (42°33′33″N 2°51′04″E / 42.55929°N 2.85120°E / 42.55929; 2.85120).

Figueres-Vilafant railway station under construction in August 2010. French TGVs from Paris terminated here between 2011 and 2013, connecting with a Spanish train to Barcelona

Services

A TGV service from Paris via Perpignan started on 19 December 2010 to a temporary station at Figueres[18] and a connecting service on the classic line on to Barcelona and Madrid.[19] The total journey time from Paris to Barcelona has been reduced by 1h 15m to 7h 25m. Of that, 5h 30m was spent on the Paris to Figueres segment.[20] Initially there was a service of two Paris-Figueres TGVs per day, which connected with two RENFE Alvia trains a day between Barcelona and Figueres via the conventional broad gauge line and a temporary double gauge track.[15][20] From January 2013 there was a service of nine RENFE AVE trains a day between Figueres and Barcelona with eight services continuing on to Madrid.[21]

RENFE started a standard-gauge freight service on 21 December 2010.[22] As of January 2011 four freight trains a week run over the line from Barcelona, with journey times reduced by 6 hours: one train each way to Lyon, and one each way to Milan.[22]

On 28 November 2013, RENFE and SNCF announced the opening of direct long-distance services from 15 December 2013, with daily trains between Paris – Barcelona, Toulouse – Barcelona, Lyon – Barcelona, Marseille – Madrid.[23] Since December 2013 the journey time for the TGV Paris–Barcelona service has been 6 hours 25 minutes.[24]

Future

Lyon to Barcelona is expected to take less than four hours[25] using the classic line in France between Perpignan and Nîmes. A new company jointly owned by RENFE and SNCF is to be formed to run services between Paris and Madrid. Ten new trains are to be purchased at a cost of €300 million.[26]

In May 2010 it was announced that tendering had started for the Nîmes–Montpellier bypass route. This will be the first stage in the link between the Spanish high-speed network and LGV Méditerranée and the line will carry a mix of freight and high-speed trains.[27] A 25-year Public–Private Partnership agreement was signed in June 2012 and the line is expected to be opened in December 2017.[28]

Work on the 150 km Montpellier-Perpignan section is not expected to start until 2020, following public consultation beginning 2015.[29] However, the preliminary high-speed route and station locations have been approved by the French transport ministry in February 2016.[30]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Perpignan–Figueras High-speed Rail Line". Structurae. Retrieved 30 January 2009.
  2. ↑ "The Mediterranean Rail Corridor will be a reality in 2020". Catalan news agency. 17 March 2011. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  3. ↑ "European Parliament's final approval of the Mediterranean Railway Corridor". Catalan news agency. 19 November 2013. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  4. ↑ "Perpignan–Figueres concession extended". Railway Gazette International. London. 24 November 2009. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
  5. ↑ "La ligne TGV Perpignan–Figueres livrée dans 10 jours, pour rien". La Clau (in French). Perpignan. 4 February 2008. Retrieved 8 February 2009.
  6. ↑ "Interrogations sur les tarifs du TGV Perpignan–Figueres". La Clau (in French). Perpignan. 10 October 2008. Retrieved 30 January 2009.
  7. ↑ "Tunnel with no trains". Railway Gazette International. London. 15 April 2009. Retrieved 20 May 2009.
  8. ↑ "Perpignan – Figueres link inaugurated". Railway Gazette International. London. 27 January 2011. Retrieved 31 January 2011.
  9. ↑ "Railway Gazette: Girona tunnelling makes progress". Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  10. ↑ "Perpignan-Barcelona AVE to open in 2012 or .... 2020?". Today's railways Europe, Issue 140. August 2007. p. 10.
  11. ↑ Keith Barrow (8 January 2013). "Spain completes Iberia's high-speed link to Europe". International Railway Journal. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  12. ↑ "High speed line opens between Barcelona and Figueres". Railway Gazette. 8 January 2013. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  13. ↑ Fernando Puente (10 December 2012). "Barcelona-Figueres HS line to open January 7". International Railway Journal. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  14. 1 2 "Perpignan–Figueres Cross-Border Railway, France". Railway Technology. Retrieved 30 January 2009.
  15. 1 2 Fox, Brendan (December 2010). "New timetables in Europe". Modern Railways. London. pp. 74–77.
  16. ↑ "La ligne TGV de Perpignan" (in French). Histoire du Roussillon. 2008. Retrieved 30 January 2009.
  17. ↑ Dr. Jaap Vleugel (October 2006). "Natural cross-border barriers to the development of Trans-European Transport Networks" (PDF) (Press release). Brussels: EUROPEAN UNION Committee of the Regions. Delft University of Technology. Retrieved 2015-11-02.
  18. ↑ "La gare TGV temporaire de Figueres sera prête en 2010". 26 February 2009. Retrieved 9 May 2009.
  19. ↑ "Le TGV Perpignan–Girona, promis pour fin 2012". La Clau (in French). Perpignan. 26 March 2010. Retrieved 14 July 2010.
  20. 1 2 "TGV Tickets to Figueres on sale". Railway Gazette International. London. 24 November 2010.
  21. ↑ "High speed line opens between Barcelona and Figueres". Railway Gazette International. 8 January 2013.
  22. 1 2 "Break of gauge no more". Railway Gazette International. London. 18 January 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
  23. ↑ Communiqué de presse Paris - Barcelone
  24. ↑ "Paris-Barcelona TGVs set for December 15 launch". International Railway Journal. 2013-11-28. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  25. ↑ "A Lyon en AVE a partir de 2012". El País (in Spanish). Madrid. 24 April 2009. Retrieved 9 May 2009.
  26. ↑ "New Paris to Madrid high-speed service in 2012" (PDF). Railway Herald (205). Scunthorpe. 14 December 2009. p. 25.
  27. ↑ "Nîmes–Montpellier bids go in". Railway Gazette International. London. 6 May 2010.
  28. ↑ "Nîmes - Montpellier contract signed". Railway Gazette International. London. 29 June 2012. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
  29. ↑ "Southern LGV projects make progress". Railway Gazette International. London. 9 February 2011.
  30. ↑ "Route approved for Montpellier - Perpignan HSL". International Railway Journal. 3 February 2016.
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