SOUTH EUROPE ATLANTIC HIGH SPEED LINE: THE RFF LAUNCHES A CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

March 1st 2007, Réseau Ferré de France (RFF) published the public call for applications to construct the South Europe Atlantic High Speed Line (SEA HSL), from
Tours to Bordeaux, under a concession agreement. This is a first for France – never before has a Private-Public Partnership (PPP) of this kind been proposed for the
construction of a high speed line.

Just a few months after launching a call for applications to create the GSM-R
telecommunications network under a partnership contract, the RFF is implementing yet
another form of innovative financing to develop France’s national rail network. The company, which owns the network, published a consultation in the Official Journal of the European
Union on March 1st 2007 with a view to establishing a concession agreement for the
construction of the SEA HSL from Tours to Bordeaux. The call for tenders will be launched
in the second half of 2007, with the contract due to be signed in the second half of 2008.
The estimated cost of this extremely important urban development operation is 5
billion euros (value in 2005).

The concessionary company will be responsible for designing, constructing, maintaining,
renewing, operating and financing the South Europe Atlantic High Speed Line project at its own risk within the framework of national and EC regulations. In return, it will be the sole beneficiary of all the revenue generated by operating the line.

The South Europe Atlantic High Speed LIne
The South Europe Atlantic High Speed Line is a new 300 kilometre-long infrastructure
running between Tours and Bordeaux, with an additional 40 kilometres of connections.
This line, which will bring Bordeaux to within just over 2 hours of Paris, will prolong the
existing Atlantic HSL (Paris Montparnasse -Tours).

By providing a new high-speed link between the south-west regions of France, the north of Europe and the Iberian Peninsula it will, amongst other things, help to free-up additional capacity for regional trains (TERs) and freight trains on the existing line.

Journey Time 2005 / 2016
Paris – Poitiers: 1 hour 25 mins. / 1 hour 15 mins.
Paris – Angoulême 2 hours 10 mins. / 1 hour 45 mins.
Paris – Bordeaux 3 hours / 2 hours 5 mins.
Paris – La Rochelle 2 hours 50 mins. / 2 hours 25 mins.
Poitiers – Bordeaux 1 hour 40 mins. / 1 hour 5 mins.

Additional background information (provided by Infrasite’s Editorial Staff)
GSM-R first public-private partnership for RFF (2006-12-20)