SNCF awards 1,8 billion euros in contracts for the renewal of the rail network

SNCF Réseau awarded contracts worth 11 billion euros to construction giants on Monday March 1,8 to replace hundreds of kilometers of tracks and ballast as part of a "massive" work campaign spanning over seven years.

The manager of the French rail network has thus awarded in four lots “one of its most important calls for tenders for works for the regeneration of the network”, he explained in a press release.

The beneficiary companies are the Eiffage and Captrain group (subsidiary of the SNCF logistics division), the subsidiary of Bouygues Colas Rail in consortium with TSO (subsidiary of the NGE group), and ETF, subsidiary of Vinci Construction, according to the same source.

Colas Rail-TSO will be responsible for “replacement of ballast on high-speed lines”, while ETF will have to carry out “replacement of rails-track-ballast for dense areas of the network”.

For their part, Eiffage and Captrain obtained two lots: the "replacement of track switches (the installations allowing switches and line crossings, Editor's note) by industrial method on high-speed line", and the "replacement of rails -ballast track for the rest of the network", according to SNCF Réseau.

In a separate press release, Eiffage indicated that “these contracts represent a total firm amount of nearly 415 million euros (80% Eiffage share), which could exceed 790 million euros, after activation of the renewable annual tranches”.

For his part, Vinci stressed that the tranche allocated to him represented some 700 million euros. “The project involves the renewal of more than 800 km of tracks and ballast across the entire French territory by the end of 2030. It will improve regularity and increase the frequency of trains,” said the construction giant in another press release.

"The average age of the French rail network is currently around 30 years. In order to stop its aging and rejuvenate it, the government has decided to gradually increase investments to the tune of an additional 1,5 billion euros per year in its regeneration and modernization", recalled SNCF Réseau, which plans to invest in 2024 "3,2 billion euros in the regeneration" of infrastructure.

Thus, "1.600 major projects are scheduled across all territories to refurbish 1.064 km of tracks and regenerate or remove 492 switches", according to the same source.