Perthus Tunnel
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The Perthus Tunnel is a twin-bore railway tunnel between
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
and
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...
under the Eastern
Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to C ...
, built as part of the high-speed railway line Perpignan-Figueres. It has made possible the implementation of direct high-speed trains connecting the two countries' railway systems since December 2013, linking the Spanish
AVE ''Alta Velocidad Española'' (''AVE'') is a service of high-speed rail in Spain operated by Renfe, the Spanish national railway company, at speeds of up to . As of December 2021, the Spanish high-speed rail network, on part of which the AVE s ...
network with the French
TGV The TGV (french: Train à Grande Vitesse, "high-speed train"; previously french: TurboTrain à Grande Vitesse, label=none) is France's intercity high-speed rail service, operated by SNCF. SNCF worked on a high-speed rail network from 1966 to 19 ...
. The tunnel is named after the nearby border town of
Le Perthus Le Perthus (, ca, El Pertús, ) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France. Natives of Le Pertus are called ''Perthusiens'' and, in 2016, there were 586 inhabitants. Le Perthus is also one of French territories on th ...
. Construction of Perthus Tunnel took place between July 2005 and February 2009, it was opened to traffic for the first time on 19 December 2010. It was designed, built, and operated under a 50-year concession by the TP Ferro consortium. The tunnel has been designed to allow the movement of freight train as well as high speed passenger traffic. It also facilities the full interoperability of qualifying trains from either Spanish or French network without distinction. It is long. During late 2016, TP Ferro went into liquidation, leading to a new company jointly held by Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias (ADIF) and
SNCF Réseau The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (; abbreviated as SNCF ; French for "National society of French railroads") is France's national state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the country's national rail traffi ...
becoming responsible for the tunnel's operation.


Construction

As early as the 1980s, studies were underway into examining the potential of constructing a high speed railway between the countries of Spain and France. By the 21st century, various projects to improve the connecting infrastructure between European nations were underway. To do so facilitate such any such link between Spain and France, the challenging terrain of the
Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to C ...
would have to be traversed, necessitating the construction of a tunnel. During the early 2000s, arrangements to undertake its design and construction were explored. This resulted in the formation of a
public–private partnership A public–private partnership (PPP, 3P, or P3) is a long-term arrangement between a government and private sector institutions.Hodge, G. A and Greve, C. (2007), Public–Private Partnerships: An International Performance Review, Public Administ ...
venture by the TP Ferro consortium, a joint venture of the French civil engineering firm
Eiffage Eiffage S.A. is a French civil engineering construction company. it was the third largest company of its type in France, and the fifth largest in Europe. History The company was formed in 1992 through the merger of several long standing compani ...
and the Spanish company
Dragados ACS, Actividades de Construcción y Servicios, S.A. () is a Spanish company dedicated to civil and engineering construction, all types services and telecommunications. It is one of the leading construction companies in the world, with projects i ...
, who undertook the design, construction, and operation of the Perthus Tunnel under a fifty-year concession awarded in December 2003. The Perthus Tunnel, which comprises two parallel bores with a length of , was considered to be the most challenging undertaking of the project. Of the various bridges, tunnels, and miscellaneous civil engineering works needed to produce the connection, the tunnel was both the largest and comprised the greatest expense by a considerable margin; the estimated cost of its construction was $375M. In the years prior to the project's launch, extensive surveying efforts had been conducted to support the future construction effort. On 17 February 2004, the final contract between TP Ferro, France, and Spain was agreed. On 19 July 2005, construction of the tunnel was officially launched at a ceremony attended by both French and Spanish dignitaries. TP Ferro determined that a pair of
tunnel boring machine A tunnel boring machine (TBM), also known as a "mole", is a machine used to excavate tunnels with a circular cross section through a variety of soil and rock strata. They may also be used for microtunneling. They can be designed to bore throu ...
s (TBMs) would be compatible with the geological features present, which mainly comprised hard
granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
,
granodiorite Granodiorite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock similar to granite, but containing more plagioclase feldspar than orthoclase feldspar. The term banatite is sometimes used informally for various rocks ranging from gra ...
,
gneiss Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures an ...
, scists, mylorite, and
diorite Diorite ( ) is an intrusive igneous rock formed by the slow cooling underground of magma (molten rock) that has a moderate content of silica and a relatively low content of alkali metals. It is intermediate in composition between low-silic ...
, along the tunnel's route. The early excavation work involved the preparation of the tunnel's southern portal, which included the construction of a platform as well as reinforcement of the opening, after which both TBMs commenced boring from the Spanish side. As the TBMS progressed, they installed a precast concrete lining, consisting of six segments plus a key per ring.
Spoil Spoil or spoils: *Plunder taken from an enemy or victim *Material (such as rock, earth or other overburden) removed during: **excavation **mining **dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons f ...
was removed via a conveyor system running back to the tunnel portals. Concrete was produced on an on-site batch plant setup outside the southern tunnel portals and conveyed by a specialised fleet of ten mixer trucks. A total of four equipment galleries are present along the tunnel. The usable cross-section of each bore is 50m2. Perthus Tunnel was constructed to conform with relatively rigorous safety standards. As such, various safety systems are present, such equipment includes a backup power supply,
smoke detector A smoke detector is a device that senses smoke, typically as an indicator of fire. Smoke detectors are usually housed in plastic enclosures, typically shaped like a disk about in diameter and thick, but shape and size vary. Smoke can be detecte ...
s, fire suppression apparatus, high pressure water lines, sewage and ventilation systems, active monitoring of clearances and falling objects, as well as numerous connections between the twin bores at regular intervals of 350m. Emergency provisions near the entrances of the tunnel include a designated access points and a purpose-built helicopter landing area. On 1 October 2007, it was announced that the first TBM had achieved breakthrough; this was several months later than planned due to a fault being discovered. Following less than four years of construction work, the Perthus Tunnel was declared to have been completed on 17 February 2009.


Operations

On 19 December 2010, Perthus Tunnel was opened to traffic. The newly opened route was promptly used by the ''Barcelyon Express'', a Franco-Spanish combined transport service operated by Naviland Cargo (
SNCF Geodis SNCF Logistics was the division of the SNCF group responsible for freight transportation and logistics. The division included the activities of: Geodis (and subsidiaries), general land transport and logistics; Fret SNCF the national rail freight ...
group) and Renfe Operadora. The joint Franko-Spanish high speed passenger service operator
Elipsos ''Elipsos Internacional S.A.'' was a Spanish company which was set up in 2001 by Spanish RENFE and French SNCF with a 50% share each. It was created to handle the logistics of Trenhotel night railway services between Spain and France, Switzerland ...
also commenced use of the tunnel. At the time of the opening, the high-speed standard gauge railway ended at Figueres-Vilafant station; an Iberian gauge spur line had been purpose-built from the conventional Barcelona-Figueres line to serve this station. As a means of compensation for the delay in the tunnel's opening, the concession held by TP Ferro was extended by three years. During November 2009, formal design studies for a high-speed Perpignan-
Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...
line were launched by
Réseau Ferré de France Réseau ferré de France (RFF, french: French Rail Network) was a French company which owned and maintained the France, French national railway network from 1997 to 2014. The company was formed with the rail assets of SNCF in 1997. Afterwards, t ...
. The completed Perthus Tunnel forms one part of the Perpignan-Figueres high-speed railway. The high-speed line between Barcelona and Figueres was opened to traffic on 8 January 2013; however, prior to December of that year, passengers had to change trains at Figueres Vilafant station, from a French TGV to a Spanish AVE, as neither trainset was approved for use on the other country's network. Finally, direct trains were launched on 15 December 2013. As a consequence of these additional developments, the new high speed route enables high speed
TGV The TGV (french: Train à Grande Vitesse, "high-speed train"; previously french: TurboTrain à Grande Vitesse, label=none) is France's intercity high-speed rail service, operated by SNCF. SNCF worked on a high-speed rail network from 1966 to 19 ...
service to travel between Barcelona and Perpignan in only 50 minutes, one third of the travel time of the historic line. During late 2016, TP Ferro, the consortium operating Perthus Tunnel, went into
liquidation Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end in Canada, United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and many other countries. The assets and property of the company are redistrib ...
. Consequently, all staff and activities previously undertaken by TP Ferro were taken over by a new company jointly formed by Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias (ADIF) and
SNCF Réseau The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (; abbreviated as SNCF ; French for "National society of French railroads") is France's national state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the country's national rail traffi ...
; operations of the tunnel have continued without disruption.{{cite web , url = https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-8-2016-006931_EN.html?redirect , title = Subject: Possible illegal state aid to ACS and Eiffage, contractors for the Perthus high-speed rail tunnel , publisher = europarl.europa.eu , date = 19 September 2016


References


External links


Structurae database

LGV Article 7/5/08

The Pertús Tunnel - TP Ferro
Buildings and structures in Pyrénées-Orientales Railway tunnels in France Railway tunnels in Spain Transport in Occitania (administrative region) Tunnels completed in 2009