A PREFERRED route for the first phase of the planned TGV Rhine-Rhône line was announced on July 5. The so-called 'barreau Est' option was agreed unanimously by a committee set up to develop the project and report back to the French Ministry of Transport. The decision paves the way for a detailed financial analysis of the scheme, which should enable a public enquiry to start next February under the process leading to a Declaration of Public Utility.
The favoured route would run from Auxonne, between Dijon and Dole, to Petit-Croix just east of Belfort. This was one of two options agreed for detailed study last October; the other would run from Devecey north of Besançon to Lutterbach north of Mulhouse. Infrastructure works for the two options were both costed at Fr8·9bn, but the favoured option offered 30% more traffic.
Construction of TGV Rhine-Rhône would cut the Paris - Mulhouse journey time to 2h 36 min and Lyon - Strasbourg to 3h 13min. An intermediate station at Devecey would serve Besançon.
No funding has been identified for the line, which is backed by the régions of Alsace, Bourgogne and Franche-Comté. The French government is bidding for EU funds under the TENs programme.
- On July 9 SNCF confirmed that it was ordering a further 12 TGV Duplex double-deck trains from Alstom for 230m euros. The original order covered 45 sets with options for 55, but was later cut back to 30. The extra 300 km/h sets will be delivered from September 2001, ready for the opening of TGV Méditerranée.
