LISEA, the concessionaire of Tours – Bordeaux high-speed line, awarded a consortium led by SPIE Batignolles the contract for the construction France’s first private rail maintenance facility.
The consortium comprises Colas Rail, Colas Mérignac, INEO, and Briand and will be responsible for the construction of the private maintenance and stabling facility in Marcheprime, a commune in southwestern France in the Gironde department, Nouvelle‑Aquitaine region.
Under the contract, Colas will be responsible for the installation of 3.5 km of railway track with the installation of 6,200 sleepers and 30 switches and crossings, for the signalling and low/high voltage systems, including 30 switch motors, 70 signals, and a 25 kV / 1.5 kV traction power supply. It will also build the civil engineering and utilities, the catenary composed of 30 flexible gantries, 19 section insulators, 3 km of feeder cable installation, 170 catenary poles, and 600 m of retractable catenary. In addition will provide the complete installations for the maintenance workshop with complete installations including tandem underfloor wheel lathe, train washing machine, three drainage lines for trains, 28 mobile jacks, ultrasonic test bench.
This new facility, which will host the high-speed trains of the new railway operator Velvet starting in 2028, will be France’s first private rail maintenance facility. Strategically located on the Atlantic coast, it will play a key role in the performance, reliability, and safety of rolling stock operating on the Atlantic high-speed line.
In June 2023 LISEA signed the deed of sale for the land for the rail maintenance facility and submitted the Planning Permission and Environmental Consent applications, and launched launch of a major consultation campaign with local residents from September to November 2023.
LISEA is the first private company in France to manage an infrastructure dedicated to high speed railway links.
Held by Vinci Concessions (33.4 %), the French Caisse des Dépôts (25.4 %), Meridiam (24.4 %) and Ardian (16.8 %), the company’s main mission is to safely run a public railway infrastructure to benefit its clients, territories and travellers until the end of its concession contract in 2061. In spring 2024, Ardian and the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, shareholders in LISEA, expressed their intention to jointly sell a 26.24% stake in the company. Vinci Concessions and Meridiam, already shareholders in LISEA, wished to acquire the shares being sold. The transaction was signed on 9 October 2024.
The SEA line consists of a 302 km double-track route and comprises 9 main high-speed rail (LGV) sections, along with 8 connections to the non-concessioned national rail network totalling 38 km in length.
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