The SEA HSL Tours-Bordeaux was inaugurated on 28 February 2017 in Villognon (western France), in the presence of French President François Hollande and of Xavier Huillard, chairman & CEO of VINCI
The SEA HSL Tours-Bordeaux was inaugurated on 28 February 2017 in Villognon (western France), in the presence of French President François Hollande and of Alain Rousset, president of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, Xavier Huillard, chairman & CEO of VINCI, Laurent Cavrois, chairman of Lisea and Patrick Jeantet, chairman of SNCF Réseau.
The Group’s various business lines all contributed to what has been the biggest railway project in Europe and the biggest project ever in the history of VINCI. Due to come into service on 2 July 2017, the line will mean a journey time between Bordeaux and Paris of 2 hours and 4 minutes.
Its construction was completed in record time, ahead of the contractually agreed schedule (i.e. six years of planning and works). This concession has enabled 302 km of high-speed line to be built between Saint-Avertin (central France) and Ambarès-et-Lagrave (west of France) as well as the 38 km of the 10 connecting lines linking the new line to the urban centres in the south-west of France. In total, almost 10,000 employees participated in the implementation of this project.
Xavier Huillard underlined the great performance of the construction teams with 37 million manoirs without severe accident. The French President François Hollande said the project deserves "all superlatives".
