Perpignan–Barcelona high-speed rail line | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Overview | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Status | Operational | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Owner |
SNCF Réseau (French side), Adif (Spanish side) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Locale |
France (
Languedoc-Roussillon), Spain ( Catalonia) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Termini | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Service | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Type | High-speed rail | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
System |
SNCF (in
France) Alta Velocidad Española (in Spain) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Operator(s) |
SNCF, Renfe Operadora | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rolling stock |
SNCF TGV Duplex AVE Class 100 (from 2014) RENFE Class 252 (freight services) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
History | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Opened | 2013 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Technical | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Line length | 175.5 km (109.1 mi) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Number of tracks | Double track | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Electrification | 25 kV 50 Hz | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Operating speed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Signalling | ERTMS level 2, ASFA | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Perpignan–Barcelona high-speed line is an international high-speed rail line between France and Spain. The line consists of a 175.5-kilometre (109.1 mi) railway, of which 24.6 km (15.3 mi) are in France and 150.8 km (93.7 mi) are in Spain. It crosses the French–Spanish border via the 8.3-kilometre (5.2 mi) Perthus Tunnel bored under the Perthus Pass, [3] connecting two cities on opposite sides of the border, Perpignan in Roussillon, France, and Figueres in Catalonia, Spain. The line extends to Barcelona, and this part is sometimes referenced as an extension of the Madrid–Barcelona high-speed rail line. The Perpignan–Barcelona line is a part of the Mediterranean Corridor. [4] [5]
During the early 2000s, Spain backed numerous high speed rail schemes, seeking improve the nation's infrastructure and to facilitate better rail services. [6] Officials recognised that the historic cross-border link between Spain and France, which involved a break of gauge, was far slower than new infrastructure would have been. Railway planners proposed two different cross-border high speed rail lines traversing the Pyrenees; the Figueras-Perpignan route towards the Mediterranean being one while the other, between Dax and Vitoria, was closer to the Atlantic. [6]
On 17 February 2004, a contract for the construction of the international section of the line between Perpignan and Figueres was awarded to the TP Ferro consortium, a joint venture of Eiffage (France) and Dragados (Spain). [3] The group constructed the line for an estimated cost of approximately €1.1 billion, and will operate it for 53 years. [7] It received a public subsidy of €540 million, split between the European Union, France and Spain. The European Union also provided 25 percent of the cost of the original construction works. [8]
Test running started in November 2008, and the international section officially opened on 17 February 2009, but services were delayed until December 2010 because the station at Figueres was not finished. [9] [10] [11] Services in the section started on 19 December 2010 with a TGV service from Paris via Perpignan to Figueres–Vilafant and regular freight traffic started on 21 December 2010. Eventually the 44.5-kilometre (27.7 mi) international section was officially inaugurated on 27 January 2011. [12]
The Spanish 131-kilometre (81.4 mi) Barcelona–Figueres section was originally planned to open in 2009 but there were delays in building a 4-kilometre tunnel in Girona, the first phase of which was finished in September 2010, [13] and controversy over the route between Sants and Sagrera stations in Barcelona. [14] The section was eventually completed in January 2013 at a cost of €3.7 billion and the entire line officially opened on 8 January 2013. [15] [16] [17]
The track on the new line is standard gauge using 25 kV AC railway electrification at 50 Hz, consistent with the French LGV and Spanish AVE high-speed rail networks. [18] The line is used by both passenger and freight trains, the maximum grade being limited to 12 ‰. [18] The design speed is 350 kilometres per hour (220 mph). [19]
This line was the first rail connection between Spain and the rest of Europe constructed without a break-of-gauge [20] and the first international connection to the standard-gauge Spanish AVE network. Traditional Spanish rail lines are broad gauge based on the Spanish vara 1,668 mm (5 ft 5+21⁄32 in), so rail connections between France and Spain have traditionally involved a break-of-gauge, implying that passengers and cargo must either change trains, or the trains must pass through gauge-changing installations at the border. Another same-gauge connection to France is planned near the Atlantic coast in the Basque country, and a third link via Huesca crossing the central Pyrenees mountains through a 40 kilometres (25 mi) tunnel is under study. [21]
France has left-hand traffic for trains and Spain right-hand one, so a flyover was built around 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) north of the border ( 42°33′33″N 2°51′04″E / 42.55929°N 2.85120°E). [22]
The line from Perpignan to Figueres is a mixed-traffic high-speed railway (that is allowing passenger trains and freight trains) of 44.4 km (27.6 mi), including 24.6 km (15.3 mi) on the French side and 19.8 km (12.3 mi) on the Spanish side, with UIC standard gauge. The design speed (or maximum nominal speed) of this line is 350 km/h (220 mph) [23] but the maximal commercial speed is currently 300 km/h (190 mph). [1] The railway crosses the French– Spanish border via the Perthus Tunnel, an 8.3 km (5.2 mi) tunnel bored under the Perthus Pass. [24]
The line concession was awarded on February 17, 2004 to the TP Ferro consortium, which included the companies Eiffage (France) and ACS / Dragados (Spain). The consortium was in charge of building the line, at an estimated cost of around 1.1 billion euros, and operating it for 50 years. The line was delivered on 17 February 2009, three months after its connection to the French railway network (December 2008). The first train connection did not take place however until 19 December 2010, due to delays in the delivery of the Figueres station, and the first service to Barcelona circulated on 9 January 2013 after the completion of the Figueres-Barcelona line. [25]
The delay in the opening of the natural extension of the line between Figueres and Barcelona led to lower traffic than expected and therefore to lower revenues for the concessionaire, paid by a toll system. At the start of 2014, the concessionaire experienced a catastrophic financial situation, the collected tolls not making it possible to repay the 500 million euros borrowed from the banks, out of the 1.1 billion euros for the project. In July 2015, the company announced that it was insolvent and on 15 September 2016, the court of Girona ordered the liquidation of TP Ferro. France and Spain, through the Railway infrastructure managers SNCF Réseau and Adif, would take over the line, as well as the debt. This takeover took place on 21 December 2016, by the joint subsidiary “Línia Figueres-Perpinyà” (or “Línea Figueras Perpignan S.A.”), created on 21 October 2016. This line constitutes line no. 837 000 of the French national rail network, under the name “Ligne de Perpignan à Figueras (LGV)”, although it is not legally part of it.
This 131 km (81.4 mi) line is part of the Spanish "Madrid-Barcelona-French Border" line. [26] [27] It is also a mixed-traffic high-speed railway, with an operating speed of up to 290 km/h (180 mph). [2]
Originally planned to open in 2009, the extension of some Madrid-Barcelona routes to Figueres–Vilafant railway station via Girona, opened on 9 January 2013. [26] This connected for the first time the Spanish AVE high-speed network with the French TGV high-speed network. [28] There have been delays in building a four kilometre tunnel in Girona, the first phase of which was finished in September 2010, [29] and controversy over the route between Sants and Sagrera stations in Barcelona. [30] As of January 2013 [update] there are eight trains a day running from Madrid, connecting at Figueres Vilafant with two TGV services to Paris. [31]
A TGV service from Paris via Perpignan started on 19 December 2010 to a temporary station at Figueres [32] and a connecting service on the classic line on to Barcelona and Madrid. [33] The total journey time from Paris to Barcelona has been reduced by 1h 15m to 7h 25m (current Paris-Barcelona travel time by train is 6h 41m). Of that,[ which?] 5h 30m was spent on the Paris to Figueres segment. [34] Initially there was a service of two Paris-Figueres TGVs per day, which connected with two Renfe Alvia trains a day between Barcelona and Figueres via the conventional broad gauge line and a temporary double gauge track. [19] [34] From January 2013 there was a service of nine Renfe AVE trains a day between Figueres and Barcelona with eight services continuing on to Madrid. [35]
Renfe started a standard-gauge freight service on 21 December 2010. [36] As of January 2011 four freight trains a week run over the line from Barcelona, with journey times reduced by 6 hours: one train each way to Lyon, and one each way to Milan. [36]
On 28 November 2013, Renfe and SNCF announced the opening of direct long-distance services from 15 December 2013, with daily SNCF TGV Euroduplex trains between Paris – Barcelona, and AVE Renfe 100 series trains for the routes Toulouse – Barcelona, Lyon – Barcelona, Marseille – Madrid, based on a commercial agreement between the two companies in a cooperation called Elipsos. [37] [38] However, since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, only the trains linking Barcelona with Paris and Barcelona with Lyon were running with one daily train in each direction. In February 2022 SNCF announced the break up of the company Elipsos and since then the French operator relaunched its high-speed service between Paris and Barcelona on its own under the TGV inOui brand with the timetable change in December 2022. This Barcelona-Paris remained for a while the only high-speed service in operation between the two countries, until Renfe introduced its own new services on the routes Barcelona-Lyon from 13 July 2023 and Madrid-Marseille from 28 July 2023. [39] [40]
Since December 2013 the journey time for the TGV Paris–Barcelona service has been 6 hours 25 minutes. [41]
Lyon to Barcelona is expected to take less than four hours [42][ needs update] using the standard line[ clarification needed] in France between Perpignan and Nîmes. A new company jointly owned by RENFE and SNCF is to be formed to run services between Paris and Madrid. Ten new trains are to be purchased at a cost of €300 million. [43]
Tendering for the Nîmes–Montpellier bypass route started in May 2010. This is the first stage in the link between the Spanish high-speed network and LGV Méditerranée and the line will carry a mix of freight and high-speed trains. [44] A 25-year Public–Private Partnership agreement was signed in June 2012, construction works completed in December 2017 and the first passenger services to Montpellier Sud de France station commenced on 7 July 2018. [45] [46] [47]
Work on the 150 kilometres (93 mi) LGV Montpellier–Perpignan is not expected to start before 2020, following public consultation beginning 2015. [48] However, the preliminary high-speed route and station locations were approved by the French transport ministry in February 2016. [49] Construction for the Montpellier-Béziers section is forecast to last 10 years, while another 10 years will be needed to construct the Béziers-Perpignan section. [50]