A new boost for rail transport in France
In 2023 the French government announced a plan to invest €100bn over 16 years to expand and upgrade the country’s rail infrastructure, with key objectives of improving daily travel and reducing carbon emissions. A driver of both economic development and the green transition, rail is clearly the preferred mode of transport to ensure the free movement of people and goods – one of the founding principles of the European Union – while meeting highly ambitious targets to reduce the carbon impact of transport. Massimo Angelini and Ivan Rascle, who are in charge of developing rail activity within Artelia, explain this rail investment plan and the Group’s strategy to meet the increasing needs of the French rail industry.
What does this French rail infrastructure investment plan consist of?
Massimo Angelini
The plan was announced by the French Prime Minister in February 2023, with a primary focus on regional transport. Its priority is to facilitate daily travel, although it will also contribute to funding new lines.
Ivan Rascle
It covers many fields which have a direct bearing on the future of rail transport in France. The €100bn budget incorporates funding from Europe, the French government, local authorities, SNCF and others. The plan includes the creation of new lines (Bordeaux-Toulouse, Montpellier-Perpignan, Côte d’Azur, Roissy-Picardy), the renovation of the existing network, and targeted upgrading and development schemes.
Does it tie in with a broader movement to develop rail travel in Europe, particularly in a bid to decarbonise transport?
Massimo Angelini
During the Covid-19 pandemic the European Council launched a huge recovery plan to the tune of €750 billion to support the member states’ economies. Some of these funds are to be invested in infrastructure and to bolster the green transition. Rail transport infrastructure ticks several boxes on this roadmap. It is in great need of funding for renovation, upgrading and development purposes. These investments in railways generate substantial activity, which is vital to keep national economies running smoothly. And rail is a form of public transport that emits much less carbon than road travel and private cars with combustion engines.
Ivan Rascle
The EU’s desire to develop rail transport goes back a long way, the idea being to create interoperable corridors between different European countries. The Lyon-Turin tunnel and railway project is one of the schemes to this end that the EU has been supporting for several years. In parallel, each country – including France – has its own maintenance and development programmes. With this new French investment plan, the government’s message is clear: “we are stepping our rail transport ambitions up a gear”. Part of the network has aged and needs to be renovated, and new lines need to be opened with the capacity to carry more passengers and offer a solid alternative to travelling by road. And a number of other developments need to be implemented, such as bringing signalling systems into line with European standards and anticipating the impacts of climate change on railway infrastructure.
How is Artelia supporting the rail industry?
Ivan Rascle
One of our major commitments as an engineering company, and a key task for Massimo and myself, is to develop Artelia’s skills so that we are able to meet the increasing demand, in the face of a shortage of engineers. If we are to rise collectively to the challenge ahead, in other words improving the French rail network, the pool of engineers capable of working on these issues has to be expanded. That’s the only way to transform the current investments earmarked for the industry into tangible actions.
Massimo Angelini
We already have nearly 500 employees across the Group working on these issues, with more than a hundred dedicated entirely to them. Artelia has expanded its activity in the transport sector in the past few years, and created two dovetailing departments devoted to rail issues. The one headed by Ivan specialises in preliminary studies, consultancy assignments and assistance to owners. The one I manage mainly provides technical design and project supervision services. We want to keep on developing and become a key player in rail projects in France.
What types of operation do you work on?
Ivan Rascle
We work on all the issues covered by the €100bn investment plan. For instance, we are involved in the new Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur line aiming to create three commuter rail networks (RER) – now named Metropolitan Regional Express Services (SERM) – around the cities of Marseille, Toulon and Nice. The project has just been declared to be in the public interest, and the files we produced in order to prepare for this key stage in the project were praised by the authorities that examined them. We are also contributing to the project to build the new Paris-Normandy line, for which the studies prior to the public inquiry are underway.
Massimo Angelini
We are providing assistance to the Owner (TELT) on the Lyon-Turin link across the Alps, which is currently the largest railway project in Europe. We are assisting our client with the regulatory and environmental aspects on the French and Italian sides. We contributed to checking the studies and producing the tender documents. The tunnel excavation and civil works are currently being implemented, and the tenders have been launched for the railway system works.
We are also involved in several renovation and upgrading projects. We are providing design services and construction supervision for the Périgueux-Brives line. This is typical of the work required to counteract the ageing of infrastructure, which leads to longer journey times and operating problems. The line has to be upgraded to restore normal service. We are also working on a number of other renovation projects, including on the Aix-en-Provence-Briançon line (Veynes railway node). In parallel we are involved in refurbishing railway stations (Toulouse-Auch line), maintenance and stabling facilities (Montigny-les-Metz workshop). All these investments are crucial if we are to strengthen the railway network, and the French state and [infrastructure operator] SNCF Réseau urgently need high-performance engineering firms to assist them.
Ivan Rascle
There are also development projects that revolve around railway operation and rolling stock. For instance, we are helping the Pays de la Loire regional authority define its strategy for the rolling stock it is due to receive and its options regarding renewal. We also looked for the best solution to decarbonise the trains on the railway node of Le Mans, which were still running on diesel. We considered several possibilities, such as electrifying the lines, or introducing electric trains powered by batteries or hydrogen. Alongside the national transport network, our teams also work on upgrading and extending railway infrastructure on port sites. We are focusing in particular on French ports, including Marseille-Fos, Le Havre, Dunkirk and La Rochelle.
What about opening regional rail transport up to competition, which is one of the major changes in the way networks are operated?
Ivan Rascle
That is one of the major changes to come. The introduction of competition is an opportunity to see how we can make regional rail transport more efficient, less expensive and more closely attuned to the regions’ expectations. At our level, it’s a huge task to assist regional authorities on such a wide range of issues. The outcome is contracts that are much more specific and more exacting than they were in the past. It involves defining the complete regional network development strategy and the various projects to be implemented (maintenance facilities, rolling stock, stations, information systems, etc.). We are assisting, or have assisted, the regional authorities of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Hauts-de-France and Pays de la Loire on this issue of introducing competition and the transfers of responsibility that come with it.
What are the key topics for the next few years?
Massimo Angelini
2024 and 2025 will be pivotal for the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur and Montpellier-Perpignan new line projects, and for the major South-Western rail project (GPSO). Railway infrastructure is a long-standing field, but it is currently undergoing major change. Much of the story has yet to be written.
Ivan Rascle
Adapting infrastructure to the effects of climate change is another vital issue we are starting to address, and which will become very important in the years to come. Infrastructure has to be prepared for the increasing frequency and intensity of climate events such as floods and heatwaves, taking the rise in sea levels into consideration.