The journey should last just over an hour: green light from SNCF Réseau to launch calls for tenders for the Toulouse-Bordeaux TGV line

It should make it possible to connect Toulouse to Bordeaux in one hour and five minutes by 2032, at the earliest. This Thursday, November 5, SNCF Réseau gave the green light in the board of directors to the launch of two calls for tenders for the design and construction of the future TGV line between the two cities in the South-West, the manager of the national rail network indicated Thursday evening. “The launch of the two calls for applications will take place by the end of the year” indicated SNCF Réseau in a press release.

This line, known by the acronym LNSO (New South-West Line), covers the Bordeaux-Toulouse and Bordeaux Spain axes. It must be financed 40% by the State, 40% by local authorities and 20% by the European Union. Its first phase includes the construction of the new Bordeaux-Toulouse and Bordeaux-Dax lines, over 327 kilometers, as well as the railway developments south of Bordeaux (AFSB) and north of Toulouse (AFNT).

A forecast cost of 14 billion euros The board of directors of SNCF Réseau "validated" on Thursday the launch of the two projects which will join together. The first (Corea Ouest) concerns the design and construction of the construction site for the portion of the new line located between Saint-Médard d'Eyrans to the south of Bordeaux and Saint Colombe en Bruilhois, in Lot et Garonne. The second (Corea Est) concerns the design and construction of the line between Saint Jory north of Toulouse and Sainte Colombe en Bruilhois.

SNCF Réseau "retains its responsibility as project owner by ensuring the management of the project, by setting the requirements that future holders must meet and by ensuring their respect in terms of the environment and territorial integration", specifies the press release. Monitoring of costs, deadlines and coordination will be carried out by the Société du Grand Projet Sud Ouest (SGPSO) where all the financiers are brought together. Signed on February 18, 2022 by the State, the 24 communities making up the SGPSO and SNCF Réseau, the financing plan shows a total forecast cost of 10.361 billion euros in 2020, that is to say at the value of the euro in 2020, and a forecast cost of 14 billion current euros, at the value of the euro estimated at the end of the work in comparison with the estimated value in 2020, indicates the SGPSO website.

But these estimated costs are "regularly updated to take into account the realities of the work and the evolution of economic and financial conditions, such as inflation in particular" warn the financiers.

Machine-translated from French