French Firms Fitting Out 22 High-Speed Track Contracts
Almost every major French civil contractor has a piece of 22 contracts to build the countrys latest high-speed railroad. Even as the railroad owner prepares to award the last civil contract on the $3.9-billion line, it is developing other megaprojects to satisfy French demand for 320-km-per-hour travel on the Train à Grande Vitesse.
About 25% of earthwork on the first 300 km of the Eastern France high-speed line (LGV) heading east from Paris toward Germany has been completed, while nearly 20 bridges are up and an-other 120 in construction. Thanks partly to good weather, progress has the owner, the states Réseau Ferré de France (RFF), generally happy, says project director Patrick Trannoy.