FRANCE: Paris transport operator RATP has selected Colas to build a 3·2 km western extension of orbital tram route T3b from Porte d’Asnières to Porte Dauphine.
Being funded as part of the Grand Paris project, the extension will broadly parallel RER Line C, serving seven stop including Porte Maillot, Palais des Congrès-Convention Center and the University of Paris-Dauphine. Interchange will be provided at Porte Maillot with both Line C and the EOLE western extension of RER Line E, as well as metro Line 1. Connections to Line 3 will be available at Porte de Champerret and to Line 2 at Porte Dauphine. Opening is envisaged by the end of 2023.
Colas Rail and Colas France have been awarded two contracts totalling €33m. The first, valued at €29m, covers design and construction of the infrastructure, including civil works, tracklaying and platforms at the stops, together with the foundations for the overhead line masts. The second covers the design, installation and testing of the overhead line equipment itself, along with the power distribution network.
‘We are very pleased to have the opportunity to take part in another project to extend the Paris tramway’, said Colas Rail’s General Manager, France, Jean-François Milleron when the contract was anounced on September 9. ‘Trams are both inclusive and environmentally-friendly. The new extension is a real challenge for our teams who will be working in very heavy traffic areas every day. Supply logistics and intersection crossings will have to be studied carefully to minimise our impact.’
Colas subsidiaries have worked for RATP on various tram projects in the Greater Paris area, including routes T4, T9 and T13. Colas Rail was responsible for previous sections of T3, including the extension to Porte d’Asnières which opened in November 2018.
