FRANCE: A consortium of Ferrovial, Spie Batignolles Génie Civil and Spie Batignolles Valérian has been awarded a €438m contract to build a section of Grand Paris Express automated metro Line 18.
The contract announced on April 11 includes boring 6·7 km of tunnel between Saint-Quentin Est and Versailles-Chantiers, and building three stations and eight ancillary structures. The work is scheduled to take 104 months.
The tunnels will be excavated with a tunnel boring machine to overcome the difficulties posed by Fontainebleau sands. The consortium has set ‘ambitious’ targets for the recovery of excavated material, particularly sand.
The contract is expected to create nearly 350 jobs, and at least 10% of work hours will be allocated to people who are currently unemployed.
