FRANCE: Pays de La Loire region is funding a €15·8m programme to modify eight SNCF TER electric multiple-units to operate regional services on the high speed line now under construction between Le Mans and Rennes. Modifications will raise the maximum speed of the EMUs to 200 km/h.
According to infrastructure manager RFF, this will be the first deployment of conventional TER rolling stock on high speed infrastructure in France.
Due for completion in autumn 2016, the LGV Bretagne - Pay de la Loire between Le Mans and Rennes includes a 3·6 km west-to-south chord near Sablé-sur-Sarthe that will enable TER regional services from Rennes and Laval to reach Angers and Nantes.
Included within the €3·4bn programme that Eiffage Rail Express is delivering under a 25-year PPP contract, the chord is costing a total of €36·3m, of which the Pays de la Loire and Bretagne regions and other local authorities are providing 55%, the French government 23% and RFF 22%.
