| LGV Sud Europe Atlantique | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 TheLGV Sud Europe Atlantique nearPliboux (Deux-Sèvres). | |||
| Overview | |||
| Status | Operational | ||
| Owner | SNCF | ||
| Locale | Nouvelle-Aquitaine andOccitanie, France | ||
| Termini | |||
| Service | |||
| System | SNCF | ||
| Operator(s) | SNCF | ||
| History | |||
| Opened | 2 July 2017 | ||
| Technical | |||
| Line length | 340 km (210 mi): 302 km (188 mi) (newly built) + 38 km (24 mi) (connection to existing network) | ||
| Number of tracks | Double track | ||
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)standard gauge | ||
| Electrification | 25 kV 50 Hz[1] | ||
| Operating speed | 320 km/h (200 mph) | ||
| Signalling | TVM 430 /ETCS Level 2 | ||
| |||
TheLGV Sud Europe Atlantique (LGV SEA, English: South Europe Atlantic High Speed Rail Line), also known as theLGV Sud-Ouest or officially namedLGV L'Océane by SNCF since April 2016, is ahigh-speed railway line betweenTours andBordeaux, inFrance. It is used byTGV inOui andOuigo trains operated bySNCF. It is an extension of the southern arm of theLGV Atlantique, with the western extension beingLGV Bretagne-Pays de la Loire. Both extensions to the high-speed line were inaugurated on 28 February 2017, with services beginning on 2 July 2017. The line, which was at the time the biggest European railway construction project, was built by the LISEA consortium, which owns and maintains the line until 2061 and charges tolls to train companies.[2] Trains on this line departParis fromGare Montparnasse.
With trains operating at speeds of up to 320 km/h (200 mph), the line allows travelers to connect Paris to Bordeaux in approximately two hours, representing a time saving of nearly one hour compared to the classic line. Extensions from Bordeaux to Spain (LGV Bordeaux-Espagne) and to Toulouse (LGV Bordeaux - Toulouse) are under consideration, with preliminary work for the latter having begun in May 2024 and the first service expected in 2032.
The financing, construction, operation, and maintenance of this line were conceded to a private company, LISEA, for a period from 2011 to 2061, making it the first high-speed line in France to be built under such a concession model.
The LGV SEA brings high-speed rail service to southwestern France and connects theregions ofNouvelle-Aquitaine andOccitanie with the high-speed rail service of Northern Europe, which connectsParis toLondon,Brussels,Amsterdam and beyond. The trip between Paris andBordeaux takes around two hours and ten minutes at a top speed of 320 km/h (199 mph). The inter-city links betweenTours,Poitiers,Angoulême, and Bordeaux are also improved, and southwestern France is better connected to various parts of the country and to the rest of Europe. Trains on this line depart Paris fromGare Montparnasse
The project is also a response to the heavy traffic on the existing rail line. Train tracks are most efficiently used when all trains circulate at the same speed and have identical stops. The large speed difference between the fastTGV trains, which circulated on the existing tracks at speeds up to 220 km/h (137 mph), and the slowerfreight trains andTER (regional) trains, which shared the same track, caused the interval between these trains to increase greatly. This congested the tracks and prevented their most efficient usage.
Dedicated tracks for the TGV therefore leave space on the existing tracks for many more freight andTER trains than just the number of removed TGV trains. New regionalTER services became possible, and could ease services that are currently crowded. The increase in freight trains on the existing track would ease truck traffic on the roads in the régions, as trains transport more and more goods, easing the impact on the environment as well. TER traffic in Nouvelle-Aquitaine increased by 10% in 2018, demonstrating the positive impact of the high-speed line on the regional network.
The use of a concession contract also made it possible, in a constrained financial context, to respond to President Nicolas Sarkozy's desire to launch four high-speed line projects simultaneously (Sud Europe Atlantique, Nîmes-Montpellier bypass, Bretagne-Pays de la Loire, and East European LGV). Private financing helped limit public investment (51% for SEA, compared to an average of 75% for other railway partnership markets).
The project was also sold as benefiting the economy. The construction of Phase 1 created 10,000 construction jobs for five years. Jobs in the transport, commerce, and service sectors were created as well. Local businesses may their see competitiveness increase as their markets expand, and tourism to the region may increase as well.
This route supplements – and partly supersedes – the classicParis–Bordeaux railway line.
The line was built by consortium LISEA consisting ofVinci Concessions - 33.4%,Caisse des dépôts et consignations - 25.4%,Meridiam - 22.0% andArdian (formerly Axa Private Equity) - 19.2%.[2] The consortium will operate and maintain the line until 2061, and charges tolls to train companies.[2] The consortium invested €3.8 billion, French government, local authorities and theEuropean Union paid €3 billion and €1 billion was contributed by SNCF Réseau (subsidiary ofSNCF).[2] Another €1.2 billion was spent by SNCF Réseau on the construction of interconnecting lines, control centres, capacity enhancements atBordeaux and remodelling the track layout atGare Montparnasse.[2]
The total cost of the line was €7.7 billion. Due to the choice of a concession model to finance, build and operate the line, SNCF initially feared that the toll costs for using the line would be higher than for other French high-speed lines. To limit this cost, SNCF considered in 2015 operating trains with greater capacity but reduced frequency. For the same reason, the use of the LGV by Ouigo trains was not initially planned, as the toll cost would be incompatible with the low-cost model of this service. A tug-of-war took place in 2015 between LISEA and SNCF, with the private company requesting 19 services to ensure the profitability of the line against 15 for SNCF. However, SNCF seems to have conceded on all points, as the service offered in July 2017 included 18.5 services and the Ouigo offer uses the entire LGV.
The new high-speed route bypassesLibourne, shortening the total distance traveled compared to the existing route. No new stations were built betweenSaint-Pierre-des-Corps andBordeaux, and service toChâtellerault,Poitiers andAngoulême uses their existing train stations, which new connections link to the high-speed rails. South ofPoitiers, a connection allows trains to access the old tracks towardsLa Rochelle.
The journey betweenTours andBordeaux is shortened by around 50 minutes, for a typical Paris-Bordeaux journey time of 2 hours and 3 minutes. 302 km (188 mi) of high-speed track was built together with a further 38 km (24 mi) of conventional tracks that connect to the LGV.[3] The line increased annual ridership by about 3.8% after opening, exceeding the 2.6% to 3.5% predicted at the time of the declaration of public utility.
The planned journey times compared to pre-LGV times:
| Journey | 2007 | 2017 (planned) | 2017 (actual) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paris-Bordeaux | 3h 00m | 2h 04m | 2h 04m |
| Paris-Poitiers | 1h 26m | 1h 17m | 1h 18m |
| Paris-Angoulême | 2h 05m | 1h 40m | 1h 43m |
| Paris-La Rochelle | 2h 50m | 2h 27m | 2h 26m |
| Paris-Toulouse | 4h 56m | 4h 03m | 4h 08m |
| Bordeaux-Angoulême | 0h 52m | 0h 35m | 0h 35m |
| Poitiers-Bordeaux | 1h 32m | 0h 55m | 1h 03m |
| Poitiers-Angoulême | 0h 44m | 0h 37m | 0h 37m |
| Poitiers-Tours | 0h 47m | 0h 30m | 0h 29m |
| Tours-Angoulême | 1h 32m | 1h 07m | 0h 57m |
| Tours-Bordeaux | 2h 30m | 1h 30m | 1h 38m |
For financial reasons, the project was initially divided into three phases:[citation needed]
 | This article needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(November 2010) |
In that initial plan, Phase 2 had to be completed on a rapid schedule to cope with the increase in traffic expected after the opening of Phase 1. For this reason the French government announced additional funding in February 2009 to build Phases 1 and 2 together.[4]
On 30 July 2010, the French government announced that work on the section to the Spanish border was expected to begin before 2020.[5] In 2015 however, a public inquiry rejected the construction of this section due to cost.[6]
The Bordeaux - Toulouse high speed line began preliminary construction in May 2024, with service expected to begin in 2032.
| Year | Passengers |
|---|---|
| 2017* | ~20,000,000 |
| 2018 | ~20,000,000 |
| 2019 | ~20,000,000 |
| 2020 | ~10,000,000 |
| 2021 | 15,520,000 |
| 2022 | 19,320,000 |
The land area used for the 302 km of LGV was set at 4,200 hectares.
46°05′23″N0°07′30″E / 46.0896°N 0.1250°E /46.0896; 0.1250
