#Vehicule rail route upgrade#

With simple interiors because passengers are not aboard for a long time, the cars have internal displays announcing the next stopping place. The VAL206 and newer VAL208, are built to handle 7% gradients and can reach 60km/h (38mph). On Line A, two-car trains accommodating up to 200 passengers operate between 05:30am and 12:30am. Costing €200m, it starts at Les Arenes Metro and heads north-west through densely populated housing areas and past important public buildings to Blagnac, location of Airbus headquarters and assembly plant. Line E is potentially the first of several modern tramways, a late adoption of a mode that has become a mainstay of transport systems in many French cities. Since 1 September 2003, the dormitory suburb of Colomiers has enjoyed a journey time of less than 30 minutes into central Toulouse, interchanging with Line A at St Cyprien-Arènes.Ī further RER-type expansion is Line D to the southern township of Muret, making greater use of the present SNCF line from Marengo (a Line A interchange) and crossing Line B at Saint Agne SNCF.

#Vehicule rail route upgrade#

Another VAL, it opened as a 15km (9.4 mile) stretch in June 2007, providing an interchange with Line A at Jean-Jaurés.Īlso part of the national network, heavy rail Line C, solving the pressing needs of the eastern side of Toulouse, required SNCF to import the ideas of Paris’ high-frequency, high-capacity RER to upgrade an existing 7km line. The construction of Line B started in 2002. It includes interchange with the principal SNCF station at the Marengo stop. Line A opened on 26 June 1993 and was extended in December 2003, running mostly underground from Basso Cambo in the south, and through the city centre to Balma-Gramont. Now a Siemens format, VAL comprises automatic rubber-tyred vehicles, using technology devised by Professor Robert Gabillard for Matra’s 1983 Lille system. It was to be a fully automated VAL (Véhicule Automatique Léger) system based on the successful model established in the northern French city of Lille.

The projectĪuthorisation for the construction of the 10km (6.33 mile) long Line A in 1985. Urban transport services operate under the Tisséo brand launched in 2002.

The loss of central government support however means that the financial burden for expansion now rests on local taxation, not an altogether popular move.