The overarching goal for this new infrastructure is to shorten travel times. It will take 2 hours and 4 minutes to travel from Paris to Bordeaux (over an hour less than before), trips between Tours and Bordeaux will take 1 hour 30 minutes (instead of 2 hours 30 minutes), and trips between Poitiers and Bordeaux 1 hour (instead of 1 hour 49 minutes).

1. South Europe Atlantic high-speed rail line
PARIS–BORDEAUX IN 2 HOURS
PRESS PACK
2017
S O U T H E U R O P E A T L A N T I C H I G H - S P E E D R A I L L I N E

2. Paris–Bordeaux in 2 hours starting summer 2017
TABLE OF CONTENTS
NEWS FEEDS
Twitter : @LGVSEA_LISEA
Facebook :
Partenaire des territoires LGV-SEA-Tours-Bordeaux-2017
THE FULL STORY,
AND ALL THE AERIAL FOOTAGE:
www.youtube.com/user/LGVSEAToursBordeaux
AND ON:
Linkedin-lisea
www.lisea.fr
}} BRINGING PEOPLE AND PLACES CLOSER TOGETHER......................................................................3
}} OPTIMISING MOBILITY........................................................................................................................................................... 3
}} CLEAN TRAVEL........................................................................................................................................................................ 5
}} A PIONEERING PARTNERSHIP................................................................................................................6
}} A 50-YEAR RAIL CONCESSION............................................................................................................................................. 6
}} MESEA WILL KEEP THE LINE WORKING SMOOTHLY UNTIL 2061................................................................................... 7
}} REACHING OUT AND STAYING IN TOUCH............................................................................................8
}} AN EXTRAORDINARY PROJECT.............................................................................................................9
}} BUILDING THE BRIDGES AND TUNNELS............................................................................................................................. 9
}} EUROPE’S LARGEST RAIL WORKSITE.................................................................................................................................10
}} 2016: DYNAMIC TESTING.......................................................................................................................................................11
}} A HERITAGE-FRIENDLY WORKSITE.......................................................................................................12
}} FUELLING LOCAL ACTIVITY....................................................................................................................14
}} OUR COMMITMENTS: THE FOUNDATIONS AND OBSERVATORIES...............................................15
Designed by Hippocampe Studio – Adapted by Les Points sur les A
Photo credits: LISEA, Komenvoir, J. M. Lecollier, A. Montaufier, Getty
Images, TVK Architectes Robota, M. Garnier, Ateliers du Moulin,
L. Marolleau, RC2C, JD Guillou, Johann Pagès, T. Marzloff, FIFO, SNCF
Réseau, Fotolia.
PRESS CONTACT
Valérie Marquis
valerie.marquis@lisea.fr
+33 6 20 67 45 86
@ValMarquis S O U T H E U R O P E A T L A N T I C H I G H - S P E E D R A I L L I N E
www.lisea.fr

3. 3
Rapprocher les hommes et les territoiresBRINGING PEOPLE AND PLACES CLOSER TOGETHER 1/3
OPTIMISING MOBILITY
Montpellier
Limoges
Angoulême
Poitiers
La Rochelle
ToulouseTT
Pau
Tarbes
Lourdes
Châtellerault
Saint Pierre
des Corps
Niort
Périgueux
Libourne
Arcachon
Agen
Montauban
CognacRoyan
Hendayeye
PARIS
TOURS
BORDEAUX
Paris
Bordeaux
2h04m
Paris
Toulouse
4h10m
Paris
Agen
3h10m
Paris
LaRochelle
2h26m
Paris
Bayonne
3h53m
St Pierre
des Corps
Bordeaux
1h38m
Lille
Bordeaux
4h36m
Bordeaux
Poitiers
1h03m
Bordeaux
Angoulême
36m
Strasbourg
Bordeaux
5h37m
Paris
Pau
4h09m
Poitiers
Tours
30m
Poitiers
Angoulême
36m
Paris
Angoulême
1h43m
Paris
Poitiers
1h18m
on to Lille, Brussels
and London
on to Strasbourg
and Frankfurt
on to Lyon
on to
Montpellier
SPAIN
SHORTENING TRAVEL TIMES
The overarching goal for this new infrastructure is to shorten travel times. It will take 2 hours
and 4 minutes to travel from Paris to Bordeaux (over an hour less than before), trips between
Tours and Bordeaux will take 1 hour 30 minutes (instead of 2 hours 30 minutes), and trips
between Poitiers and Bordeaux 1 hour (instead of 1 hour 49 minutes).
CONNECTING THE AREA
In its concession contract, LISEA has agreed to connect
the main stations on the existing rail network, by
building interconnections linking the existing line and
the new high-speed line. Doing this involves building
38 km of new rail sections in Saint Avertin, Monts, La
Celle Saint Avant, Migné Auxances, Fontaine le Comte
(two interconnections), Juillé, Villognon, La Couronne
and Ambarès et Lagrave.
FUELLING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Another important goal involves reinforcing the trans-
European corridor connecting Europe’s northern and
eastern regions to south-western France along the
Atlantic coast. Connections to this close-knit network
will spur economic development by enhancing
the area’s appeal. Local businesses will be more
competitive and in a position to venture into new
markets, and the area will attract new businesses and
more tourists on short city breaks.
ADDRESSING LOCAL
STAKEHOLDERS’ EXPECTATIONS
Experiences in Lyon and Marseille, for instance, have
shown that high-speed lines unleash significant
development potential. The high-speed line between
Paris and Bordeaux will also boost appeal throughout
Europe’s south-western quarter. Given the stakes,
this project involved working side by side with local
communities with a view to concurrently shortening
travel times, increasing service frequencies and
tightening connections between high-speed services
and existing lines.
Construction work on the South Europe Atlantic high-speed line (SEA HSL) began in 2012 and was completed in 2017. The goal for
this large-scale public-interest project is to deliver a seamless high-speed rail link between Paris and Bordeaux that will shorten the
journey to 2 hours by enabling commercial speeds of 320 km/hour. The challenge, in a nutshell, involved building a new 340 km line
between Tours and Bordeaux (including 38 km of interconnections), through 113 municipalities, six departments and two regions,
in five years. This project is exemplary on several scores, and designed to fuel development throughout southwestern France and to
enhance the entire area’s appeal.
The SEA Tours–Bordeaux HSL will complementthe existing rail line: it will open up more transport
options,more intermodal links in stations and more TER (commuter and intercity)services.
SEA Tours–Bordeaux high-speed rail line
Existing high-speed rail lines
Other rail lines
Existing rail line, will be used
for regional traffic and freight
Shortest travel time
from 01/09/2017
(SNCF data)

4. 4
Rapprocher les hommes et les territoiresBRINGING PEOPLE AND PLACES CLOSER TOGETHER 2/3
BORDEAUX, ONE OF EUROPE’S
FUTURE METROPOLISES
Almost 20 million passengers are expected to
travel between Paris and Bordeaux each year
when the high-speed line is opened to traffic,
i.e. 20% more than today. A COHDA survey(1) for
LISEA has found that about 60% of households
and businesspeople in Bordeaux will travel more
often to Paris. Almost 70% of households and
80% of business executives say they will take
TGVs (high-speed trains) rather than any other
means of transport. And one in two households,
businesses and municipalities expect a direct
TGV service every hour. These forecasts rank
Bordeaux among Europe’s most attractive
metropolises.
TRAVEL TIMES TODAY AND ON THE SEA HSL
JOURNEYS Pre-SEA
On SEA
(autumn 2017)
Paris-Poitiers 1h36m 1h18m
Paris-Angoulême 2h30m 1h43m
Paris-Bordeaux 3h11m 2h04m
Paris-La Rochelle 3h17m 2h26m
Saint Pierre des Corps (Tours)-Bordeaux 2h30m 1h38m
Angoulême-Bordeaux 0h56m 0h35m
Poitiers-Bordeaux 1h49m 1h03
Poitiers-Angoulême 0h48m 0h36m
Saint Pierre des Corps (Tours)-Poitiers 0h39m 0h30m
Paris-Toulouse 5h24m 4h10m
Belvédère Garonne Eiffel, Bordeaux Euratlantique
1h
3h
4h
2h
Paris
Lille
Strasbourg
Tours
Avignon
Marseille
Toulouse
Bordeaux
Nantes
Brest
Train travel
times
in France
in 2017
(from Paris)
Caen
Rennes
La
Rochelle
Lyon
MontpellierHendaye
Pau
Perpignan
Poitiers
Le Mans
The full survey findings (in French)
are available on www.lisea.fr
(“Nos publications”)
(1) Survey specifics
COHDA conducted this survey by phone from 23 September
to 6 October 2014.
• 300 interviews with businesses representing the economic fabric
of the Gironde department (83%) and Toulouse urban area (17%);
• 181 interviews with municipalities in the Aquitaine region
(94%) and the Toulouse urban area (6%); 42% of municipalities
have populations over 2,000, 58% under 2,000;
• 750 interviews based on a representative sample of people
aged 15 and over, living in the Gironde department, in
municipalities with populations over 10,000 in the
Aquitaine region (60%), and in the Toulouse urban area
and in Montauban (40%).
Upgrading neighbourhoods
The high-speed line will play a vital role reshaping the areas alongside it.
It will in particular spur large-scale urban redevelopment
projectsaround the stations.
Euratlantique is a national-interest urban redevelopment operation that
will involve building a business hub and housing complexes spanning almost
1,000 hectares aroundSaint Jean station in Bordeaux.
In Angoulême, a 35-hectare multimodal urban transport
hub,including offices, shops and homes, will be built around the station.

5. 5
The viaduct over the Dordogne River will help shorten travel times between Paris and Bordeaux to 2 hours
BRINGING PEOPLE AND PLACES CLOSER TOGETHER 3/3
CLEAN TRAVEL
MORE COMPETITIVE
THAN AIR TRAVEL
As it will significantly shorten travel
times, the SEA HSL will have a compelling
competitive edge over air travel and
mechanically entail a modal shift. Forecasts
suggest that, given the choice between
travelling between Paris and Bordeaux by
train or air, 90% of passengers will travel by
train (up from 70% today), meaning that the
future line’s customers will substantially
shrink their carbon footprints. Improving
transport services around stations in
city centres will also bring about more
intermodal connections to tram, bus and
other services.
AND MORE
RAIL FREIGHT
With this new high-speed line, more
freight will travel by rail instead of road,
as it will open up slots for freight trains on
the existing line, meaning opportunities to
develop rail freight services.
This dovetails with the measures that
France’s Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable
Development and Energy took in February
2013 to transfer more freight from roads to
rail.
Trains are one of the most environment-friendly transport options. The French 2017 Grenelle de l’Environnement forum decided to
develop high-speed lines, including the SEA HSL, to provide more alternatives to air and road travel.
One daily
Paris–Bordeaux
return trip by aTGV
full of passengers
who are travelling
by AIR today will
save 50,000
TONNES of CO2
equivalent a year.

6. 6
€1 billion
SNCF Réseau
contribution
€3 billion
Central and local
government
subsidies,
and a €1.5 billion
grant from the EU
€772 million
LISEA shareholder
equity
€1,672 million
bank loans
€757 million
savings managed
by Caisse des Dépôts
€600 million
European Investment
Bank credit
LOCALGOVERN
M
ENTS
EU,NATIONA
L
AND
2009
DECLARATION OF PUBLIC UTILITY
(TOURS–ANGOULÊME)
CONCESSION CONTRACT
SIGNED
MID-2011
MID-2016
TESTS AND
CERTIFICATION
LINE OPENS
TO TRAFFIC
SUMMER 2017
2012
CIVIL ENGINEERING
WORKS BEGAN
RAIL WORKS BEGAN
MID-2014
DECLARATION OF PUBLIC UTILITY
(ANGOULÊME–BORDEAUX)
2006
A PIONEERING PARTNERSHIP
A 50-YEAR RAIL CONCESSION
1/2
LISEA* was awarded the 50-year concession
for the future line following a call for tenders,
and entrusted with financing, designing and
building the new 340 km line then operating
and maintaining it until the concession expires
in 2061. Public funding accounts for 50% of the
€7.8 billion public-private investment.
LISEA TO TAKE OVER
FULL OPERATION
As the programme manager and the party
tasked with sourcing the private financing,
LISEA is covering the risks associated with
designing, building, operating and maintaining
the line. In exchange, rail operators will pay
LISEA fees based on their use of the line.
SNCF (French rail) will decide on ticket prices
for domestic services based on its sales and
marketing policy and costs, and other European
operators will decide on ticket prices on
international services.
ConstructionoftheSouthEuropeAtlanticTours–Bordeauxhigh-speedline,apublic-interestprojectentailinga€7.8billioninvestment,
is being financed under a 50-year concession contract. This arrangement, requested by the French government, is the first in France
for a high-speed rail line and has enhanced efficiency on several scores: it has shortened construction timeframes, costs are known
in advance and controlled, and the concession company has taken over traffic-related risks.
* LISEA: VINCI Concessions (33.4%), Caisse des Dépôts (25.4%), Meridiam (22%) and Ardian (19.2%).
** MESEA: Vinci Concessions and Systra.
THE PLAYERS: LISEA, COSEA AND MESEA
LISEA, the concession company, is a joint venture comprising VINCI Concessions (33.4%), Caisse des Dépôts (25.4%), Meridiam (22%) and
Ardian (19.2%). It entrusted design and construction work to COSEA, a consortium led by VINCI Construction, under an agreement expiring
on 2 July 2017. When the line is opened to traffic, MESEA** will operate and maintain it.
The FRENCH GOVERNMENT’S commitments
and concession oversight.
The French government has made more than 1,350 commitments relating to technical and environmental
constraints, and reducing noise pollution for people living in the areas near the line. SNCF Réseau and authorities
in the six departments around this line monitor LISEA’s compliance with these commitments on a regular basis. Independent
technical and other organisations (OTIs and OQAs) also supervise LISEA’s, COSEA’s and MESEA’s work. The French
Railway Safety Authority (EPSF) will issue the safety certification enabling the line to transport passengers.

7. 7
A PIONEERING PARTNERSHIP
MESEA WILL KEEP THE LINE WORKING SMOOTHLY UNTIL 2061
2/2
When the concession period begins, the focus will shift to the high-speed line’s operation and maintenance. MESEA will ensure the
line operates safely and efficiently from the time it is opened to traffic in July 2017 until the concession expires in 2061.
MESEA’S DUTIES
MESEA will be maintaining the Tours–
Bordeaux high-speed line from its bases
in Clérac (Charente Maritime), Villognon
(Charente), Poitiers (Vienne) and Nouâtre
Maillé (Indre et Loire), to ensure the trains
can travel safely at 320 km/hour, 24/7, for
44 years. This means:
Ensuring rail operators and passengers
enjoy optimal safety and comfort when
using the line
Ensuring all staff working on the line is
entirely safe
Driving continuous improvement, and social,
technical and economic performance
360° SAFETY
AND PERFORMANCE
MESEA will monitor the line on a permanent
basis and take corrective and preventive
maintenance measures to deliver flawless
safety, reliability, availability and comfort
on the Tours–Bordeaux high-speed line.
It will provide 360° rail infrastructure mainte-
nance, covering the surrounding areas, tunnels,
bridges, tracks, catenaries, signalling, etc.
TRAINING AND RECRUITMENT:
TWO CHALLENGES TO RAMP UP
MESEA
In 2017, MESEA will have 180 people on its
teams. It hired most of them in 2016 so they
can hit the ground running when the line is
opened to traffic in July 2017.
The challenge, here, was to find people who
were keen on venturing into a new line of work
and learning new skills, as well as employees
who already had experience in these very
specific technical fields. It ran a targeted
recruitment campaign to identify candidates
in local job markets, in partnership with Pôle
Emploi (French job centres).
The bulk of MESEA’s employees are track and
catenary maintenance technicians, systems
technicians and switch technicians. It trained
these new teams for six to eight months,
providing them with the theoretical knowledge
and practical skills they need to work in their
new jobs.
MESEA comprises
VINCI Concessions
(70%), a private partner
in the public interest and
world leader in the field of
concessions, and SYSTRA
(30%), a company that has
been sharpening its expertise
in rail network management for
over 50 years and has established
a solid reputation as a world-class
player in its business. MESEA will
have 180 employees in 2017.
180w o m e n
m e n
340km
o f n e w l i n e s
5scinder
sub-stations
maintenance
3bases
1,400 km
of track
24/7 MESEA
is on duty non-stop
14 000
C AT E N A R Y
P O S T S 150 switches
4,200haF O O T P R I N T
500tunnels
and
bridges
SIGNALLING
40STATIONS
mesea facts figures
TRAINING facts figures
60,000h
of training
10 GROUPS
Find out more: www.mesea.fr
90 p e o p l e
training on the
3 MAINTENANCE
B A S E S

8. 8
REACHING OUT AND STAYING IN TOUCH
150+ PUBLIC MEETINGS
Over 150 public presentations and 2,000 work meetings were held with the municipalities
alongside the route when the infrastructure and civil engineering work began, providing op-
portunities for the teams to discuss the project’s timeline and worksite methods, and to answer
neighbours’ questions.
LAND ACQUISITION THROUGH MEDIATION
Meanwhile, the teams embarked on extensive outreach and mediation with the people who
owned and farmed plots of land along the route.
The challenge, here, involved securing the land within fairly tight deadlines while listening
openly, identifying the stakes in each individual situation and tendering solutions tailored to
each case. Land and home purchases were settled amicably in practically all cases.
The high-speed rail line’s route today is the result of extensive consultation, which SNCF Réseau kicked off in 2001, and concurrently
accommodates the technical, economic and environmental constraints.
LISEA took over in 2010, reaching out to stakeholders in the areas alongside the line to discuss their concerns and requirements,
ensure people living in the areas understood and accepted the project, explain the issues and defuse any tension.
LISEA also reached out through
various information channels including
a newsletter, LISEA Express (190,000
copies), its website (www. lisea.fr),
Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
The single gateway for any question:
contact@lisea.fr
LISEA began organising worksite guided tours from four starting points
in Jaunay-Clan (Vienne), Sorigny (Indre et Loire), Mansle (Charente) and Ambarès et
Lagrave (Gironde) in 2013. This initiative met an enthusiastic response: more than
20,000 people visited the gigantic worksite behind the
scenes over two seasons. These tours were open to everyone and organised through
partnerships with local tourism authorities. Open days were
also organised on a more exceptional basis.
LISEA will remain
involved in 2017,
partnering business
events and supporting
innovation in surrounding
areas with Top des Entreprises,
Nuit des Réseaux, Aquitains
de l’Année, Emergence and other
local awards and gatherings for
local businesses.
Sharing
information
Worksite guided tours

9. 9
AN EXTRAORDINARY PROJECT 1/3
BUILDING THE BRIDGES AND TUNNELS
PREPARATION
AND CIVIL ENGINEERING
WORKS – THE INFRASTRUCTURE PHASE
High-speed line construction starts with all
the infrastructure work (civil engineering,
earthworks, reconnecting utilities and
drainage). This phase encompasses all the
operations required to prepare the ground
before building the rail line. The goal, at this
point, is to even out the soil by excavating
and backfilling. This project was huge: 1,600
highly specialised machines moved 38
million cu. metres of excavated materials and
70 million cu. metres of backfill materials,
while accommodating SNCF Réseau’s
and the supervising organisations’ many
constraints. For example, the maximum
slope at any point in the route could not
exceed 2.5% without specific authorisation.
Meanwhile, the bridges and tunnels on
the entire route were being built by teams
assigned to 18 works packages. Over 9,000
people were working together to tackle
this challenge, at the project’s peak, in the
summer of 2013.
500 BRIDGES AND TUNNELS,
10 INTERCONNECTIONS
Work here involved building 500 tunnels
and bridges, including about 50 unusually
large and “non-standard” ones, and 10 inter-
connections to the existing rail lines in the
areas surrounding the route.
Examples include viaducts, rail
bridges, road bridges, estacades
(which are exactly like bridges or
viaducts but unusually long and
low), underpasses, overpasses,
cut-and-cover tunnels, large wild-
life crossings, culverts (for streams)
and other structures to clear infil-
tration and other water basins.
These engineering structures’ spans
range from a few metres (the “stan-
dard” ones) to several hundred
metres (“non-standard”) and they
will carry the line across roads, other
rail lines and watercourses.
UNITY, CONSISTENCY AND STYLE
The architects designing these engineering
structures were keen on achieving unity,
consistency and style, and tackled this
challenge from two angles: blending the
structures as seamlessly as possible in their
surroundings and adding touches that bring
to mind the line’s destination, i.e. southern
Europe and the sea. They did this with
light colours on the concrete, mirroring the
limestone used to build many houses in the
area, and by adorning the bridge cornices
with a wave-like hallmark.
The South Europe Atlantic Tours–Bordeaux high-speed line has been dubbed the project of the century – fittingly so on account of
the project’s sheer size. It is the first time in French history that such a long rail line has been built in one stretch in such a short time.
COSEA, the VINCI-led consortium tasked with designing and building the line, simultaneously produced 500 engineering structures
and then laid 340 km of new track, using a wide range of skills and worksite logistics during the various phases.
State-of-the-art
and impressive
techniques
COSEA’s teams used several cutting-
edge techniques to build the
various engineering structures, for
example custom-formulating very
high-resistance concrete. Another
purpose-engineered technique,
“self-sinking”, involved building
structures alongside their target
location and then pushing them into
their final position with hydraulic
jacks. This technique keeps traffic
disruptions to a minimum.
A colossus
crossing the
Dordogne River
The Auxance viaduct, Folie bridge
near Poitiers and Couronne bridge
in Charente are three of the most
spectacular engineering structures
on the line. But the 1,319 metre
Dordogne viaduct was the biggest
challenge for the COSEA teams, on
account of its size and the resources
it required. It is the longest viaduct
on the route and the fact that one of
its sections spans the river entailed
a number of constraints. It took 200
people and 10 cranes to build its
foundations in clay soil, lift the piles
(which had 8 to 13 stakes each) and
bury them 41 metres deep before
laying the cantilevers that gradually
became the deck. Some 45,000 sq.
metres of concrete were poured
into formwork on-site to build this
gigantic structure.

10. 10
AN EXTRAORDINARY PROJECT 2/3
EUROPE’S LARGEST RAIL WORKSITE
TWO STAGING BASES, THE HUBS
FOR THE REST OF THE WORKSITE
Laying the track and fitting the other
rail equipment involved building two
staging bases linked to the existing
rail network and to the high-speed line
under construction: one in Nouâtre
(Indre et Loire) spanning 35 hectares
and the other in Villognon (Charente)
spanning 40 hectares. These two bases
made progress in two directions: north
and south.
THE RAIL WORKS
The rail works from the two staging bases
encompassed about 20 projects. The
first step involved fitting the signalling
and telecommunications equipment on
and off the line, i.e. the telecoms and
other low-voltage networks (GSM-Rail,
telephony, optical fibre, etc.) and the
associated civil engineering works. Then
the teams set up the catenary posts,
following transport by road, and arranged
the sleepers on the platform. Lastly, they
added the first layer of ballast (“pre-
ballasting”) so the rail works proper
could begin.
This involved:
Laying the sleepers
Laying the track
Ballasting, raising and stabilising the track
Installing the catenary
Adjusting and checking the track
TWO TRACK-LAYING
TECHNIQUES
Two techniques were used on the South
Europe Atlantic Tours–Bordeaux high-speed
line.
The “auxiliary track” technique from
Villognon (an 8 km track made up of 18 metre
decks with wooden sleepers);
The “pusher wagon” technique from
Nouâtre, which was like the one used on
LGV Est (East European high-speed line)
construction phase 2 (here, the works train
travels on the track it is laying, the “pusher”
wagon on the works train carries the track
into position and pushes it forward, then
a “spider boom” places the track on the
sleepers).
Unlike the civil engineering, the rail works unfurled in a more linear, step-by-step manner. This phase involved laying 650 metres
of track per day, with a succession of operations, and the teams tackled these organisational and logistic challenges between the
summer of 2014 and the second quarter of 2016, to deliver the line for the dynamic tests, which were completed in January 2017.
Long welded rails were used to build
this high-speed line. The 108 metre long
laminated rails from a Tata Steel plant
in Lorraine were transported to SNCF’s
workshop in Saulon La Chapelle (Burgundy)
to be welded into 432 metre long
stretches, which were then delivered by
train to one of the two staging bases and
welded to each other.
Welded rails up to 432 metres long
2 STAGING
B A S E S
1 400 km
of L O N G
W E L D E D
R A I L S
1 100 000
CONCRETE SLEEPERS
3 million
tonnes
of ballast
640 km
OF CABLE
14,000
CATENARY
POSTS

11. 11
AN EXTRAORDINARY PROJECT 3/3
2016: DYNAMIC TESTING
JUNE 2016
TO JANUARY 2017:
THE TEST PHASE.
THE LINE IS ELECTRIFIED,
DYNAMIC TESTS BEGIN.
Dynamic tests began in June 2016, when the
catenary was powered up (2 x 25,000 volts)
on the 120 km section between Mondion
and Luxé. That September, the two remaining
sections (north of Mondion and south of
Luxé) were electrified to complete the tests
on the entire line.
Rail
works
Rail works completed
System tests
Superstructure
checks
2015
2016
JULY 2017
SEA HSL opens
to traffic
JULY 2016
Dynamic
tests
2017
Driver
training
The tests on the entire line were completed in early 2017

12. 12
A HERITAGE-FRIENDLY WORKSITE 1/2
BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION:
“AVOIDING, MITIGATING AND OFFSETTING”
The teams spared no efforts, during
their preliminary exchanges with local
stakeholders, the field surveys and every
other stage, to factor these issues into the
equation and to build a line that respects
the areas and communities alongside it. The
challenges were all the more meaningful
as the three regions it travels through are
home to extraordinary heritage, including
14 Natura 2000 sites and almost 50% of
France’s and Europe’s protected species (223
listed species).
To minimize the high-speed line’s effects on
the ecosystems surrounding it, LISEA and
COSEA reached out to stakeholders dealing
with biodiversity-related issues (nature
conservation organisations, farmers, local
elected officials, relevant government agencies,
etc.) to work with them in a formal setting
as early on as possible. They pursued two
objectives: sidestepping the most vulnerable
areas, and swiftly taking targeted measures to
offset environmental impacts, i.e. to create or
restore protected species’ habitats.
This involved two types of offsets in an area
spanning about 3,500 hectares: acquiring
land under a management agreement with a
management organisation, and entering into
agreements with forest and farm operators
when their land’s ecological potential
could favour the species in question, so
that they would adapt their operations to
accommodate those species’ biological
requirements.
LISEA implemented offset measures
covering 700 hectares for the little bustard,
an endangered migratory grassland bird
(creating areas where this species can nest
and feed), and covering almost 720 hectares
for the European mink. It also recreated
marshlands in Deux Sèvres and Vienne.
The French government requires concession companies building infrastructure such as the South Europe Atlantic Tours–Bordeaux
high-speed rail line to spare the surrounding heritage throughout construction. This entailed substantial commitments, covering
both archaeology and biodiversity, on the part of LISEA, COSEA and their specialist teams.
THE LARGEST PREVENTIVE
ARCHAEOLOGY SITE IN FRANCE
Before construction began, extensive excavations
were carried out on the entire route, from
September 2009 to autumn 2013, in order to
“detect, conserve or safeguard architectural
heritage through scientific study” as required
by the French law on preventive archaeology.
The 130 prescribed surveys spanning over
4,000 hectares rank this as France’s largest
preventive archaeology endeavour ever.
This project uncovered several sites shedding
interesting light on human history: two Middle
Palaeolithic sites (one of which dates back
more than 250,000 years); three Upper Palaeolithic sites; two Neolithic sites bearing witness to early sedentary village-like settlements; eight
protohistoric sites dating back to the Bronze Age and Iron Age; five Gallo-Roman sites; and eight medieval sites. These discoveries will be
discussed in academic and mainstream publications.
Archaeology
near you
Findings from all the archaeological
excavations are showcased in a
travelling exhibition touring the
Musée d’Aquitaine in Bordeaux,
Musée Départemental de la
Préhistoire in Grand-Pressigny,
Musée d’Angoulême and
Musée Sainte-Croix in Poitiers.
Relocating
freshwater
pearl mussels
In the spot where one of the pillars holding
up the viaduct over the Vienne River was
to be built, the environmental impact
assessment found 50 large mussels and
8,000 thick ones.
As this species is covered by a national
action plan, the decision was made to
transfer the mussels to the Creuse River,
where other specimens of the same species
has settled. To ensure the new habitat was
suitable, 3 specimens were relocated in
2010 and they all survived.

13. 13
2/2
A HERITAGE-FRIENDLY WORKSITE
Other conservation measures over and
above these offsets included timing
deforesting in such a way as to avoid
disrupting protected species, ensuring
reforested areas were as large as or larger
than deforested areas, relocating certain
species, and building 800 structures to
ensure ecological continuity, ranging from
viaducts to large wildlife crossings to small
ducts.
PROTECTING WATER
Under French legislation on water, LISEA
and COSEA took specific measures to
protect water resources, avoid disrupting
natural runoffs and preserve aquatic
environments. This was a major focus area
as the high-speed line crosses 600 natural
runoffs, including 88 watercourses.
In a similar approach, 25% of the worksite’s
water requirements (for earthworks and
surface watering) were sourced from
purpose-built rainwater harvesting basins.
Another challenge involved regulating
surface water flows. LISEA, which built
600 crossings (ranging from viaducts to
small ducts) conducted environmental
surveys to record watercourse levels in
the nearby wetlands before works began,
then designed structures in such a way
as to avoid altering the initial hydraulic
conditions. These structures, in other
words, are sized to avoid disrupting the
highest predictable or the highest recorded
water levels.
Lastly, to ensure the line does not cut off
animals from their natural habitats, 2,000
hydraulic structures were built to enable
aquatic and semiaquatic fauna to travel
seamlessly across the area.
PROTECTING NEARBY
RESIDENTS
Minimising the high-speed line’s impact
on nearby residents’ everyday lives was
another major focus area and entailed a
variety of measures.
Limiting noise:
kilometres of noise barriers:
SNCF Réseau’s main concern – among the
many parameters it took into consideration
when it plotted out the route – was to build
the high-speed line as far as possible from
inhabited areas. When this was unfeasible,
LISEA and COSEA agreed to build a number
of noise barriers and other devices
near residential areas in order to meet
regulatory requirements pertaining to the
line’s acoustic impact. They conducted
several tests, for example factoring in
wind direction and local topography, to
zero in on the necessary measures, which
included building mounds and installing
noise barriers.
Keeping routes open:
All the roads, farm crossings and hiking
paths alongside the high-speed line have
been reopened.
Blending into the landscape:
The areas skirting the line will have
hedges and other vegetation, making the
infrastructure less conspicuous. Landscaping
in listed or registered sites and monuments
will be designed specifically.
1,200 hectares of forests replanted
As building the line involved deforesting several areas on its route, COSEA agreed to
take suitable offset measures, i.e. replant 1,200 hectares (more than
it deforested). In Deux Sèvres and Vienne, two departments that lack tree species, it
replanted 2 hectares for every hectare it deforested.
Innovative
viaducts for
micromammals
Whentheybuiltviaductsacrossrivers,
LISEA and COSEA added stepped concrete
edges enabling small animals to
cross on dry paths. In Charente, they
decided to take a novel approach. After
consulting local experts, they decided to
improve these edges with covered
galleries built specifically for
micromammals such as the water
shrews and water voles, which typically
move around underground. They also set
up footprint traps to identify the
species that use these facilities.

14. 14
FUELLING LOCAL ACTIVITY
RECRUITMENT, TRAINING
AND INTEGRATION:
AN EXTRAORDINARY
PARTNERSHIP-BASED
ENDEAVOUR
Hiring the 9,000 people who were building
the line at the project’s peak, in the summer
of 2013, involved an extensive recruitment
campaign, including a specific drive to hire
local people. The French government, COSEA,
Pôle Emploi (French job centres) and the
regional council signed an employment
charter in July 2011 to roll out this recruitment
campaign. This charter also entailed setting up
a single application channel to fill vacancies
more efficiently.
Several worksite-specific training courses
were also provided and tailored to job
applicants’ profiles through partnerships. For
example, nine facilities providing training
in earthworks and engineering structures
were set up near the worksite during the
civil engineering phase. COSEA and the
consortium companies also teamed up to
promote integration, for example entrusting
10% of the work hours to people on the outer
fringes of the job market, and thus enabling
at least 400 people to return to work.
LONG-TERM JOBS
IN RAIL WORKS
The recruitment process also included a
long-term perspective and career prospects.
As part of their training, several employees
were reassigned to new jobs in demand in
the rail works sector, providing them with
opportunities to acquire two or sometimes
three separate sets of skills.
Also as part of the partnership between the
French government, COSEA, Pôle Emploi
and the regional council, an agreement
was signed on 4 December 2013 to set
up a “platform to support post-worksite
economic transition”, designed to help SEA
HSL worksite employees use their newly
acquired skills at other worksites or in other
jobs, and to help subcontractors weather the
transition, once the construction phase is
completed.
FUELLING LOCAL BUSINESSES
As 20% of the work was outsourced outside
theCOSEAconsortium,thisprojectgenerated
indirect jobs via its subcontractors. The
exact number of jobs, however, is difficult
to determine at this point. This project
also invigorated local economies, creating
induced jobs in catering, housing, services
and other sectors.
More than 9,000 people, including 2,000 local hires, were working on the high-speed line during the busiest period, in the
summer of 2013. By the end of 2016, this project had generated about €812 million in revenue for local subcontractors. Several
very significant partnerships and teamwork made these jobs and other benefits possible.

15. 15
OUR COMMITMENTS
TWO LISEA CORPORATE FOUNDATIONS
LISEA Biodiversité provides long-term
support for natural-heritage conservation
and restoration projects in the departments
surrounding the South Europe Atlantic Tours–
Bordeaux high-speed line’s route. It is using
its €5 million endowment for 2012–2020 to
help fund local projects submitted by non-
profits, government agencies and business in
the nearby areas, aimed at:
Building nature-related knowledge (taking
stock and conducting surveys)
Restoring natural environments and habitats
for species
Raising public awareness and training.
LISEA Carbone helps fund local projects that
are addressing three issues: reducing energy
consumption in public buildings, smart
mobility and energy transition in farming.
This corporate foundation’s endowment for
2012–2020 also amounts to €5 million.
This foundation teamed up with Bordeaux
Métropole and the Nouvelle Aquitaine region
in November 2016 to run an innovation
competition for startups, tasking them
with facilitating last-kilometre travel for
passengers and showcasing virtuous means
of transport.
The winners will be announced in March
2017, and the €15,000 prize comes with
an opportunity to experiment the winning
solution in or around Bordeaux.
See http://startupcontest.lisea.fr for details.
A SOCIOECONOMIC OBSERVATORY
TO MONITOR THE HIGH-SPEED LINE’S EFFECTS FOR 15 YEARS
LISEA set up this socioeconomic observatory
in September 2012 to measure the SEA HSL’s
ripple effects in its area over a 15-year period,
and to inform local development policies.
This will be beneficial in two ways: it will
shed light on the HSL’s local, economic and
social effects to help local stakeholders steer
their activities or policies, and build a case
around the HSL’s effects.
To date, this observatory has identified
six focus areas including the worksite’s
economic and social windfall, its impact on
transport and mobility choice, and strategies
to blend the line into its surrounding area.
The concession company has partnered
SNCF Réseau, government agencies, local
communities, and chambers of commerce
and industry to run this observatory, which
welcomes all experts in the areas and topics
it discusses. It will remain active until 2027,
i.e. for 10 years after the SEA HSL is opened
to traffic.
AN ENVIRONMENTAL OBSERVATORY TO ASSESS MEASURES OVER TIME
This observatory will ensure the measures
and offsets aimed at reducing environmental
impacts are effective. It will remain active
for five to 10 years after the line is opened
to traffic, and gauge the line’s actual effects
on the landscape, human environment
and ecology in the surrounding areas, in
order to enhance knowledge and compile
best practices related to reducing impacts.
LISEA chose to involve its teams and use its resources to support initiatives that foster sustainable development, in order to
benefit NGOs, businesses and communities alongside the high-speed line. It is also intent on assessing the high-speed line’s
ripple effects.
LA FondATIon LISEA CArBonE
L’eNGaGeMeNt duraBLe
des FoNdatIoNs LIsea
2 0 1 4 - 2 0 1 5
L’eNGaGeMeNt duraBLe
des FoNdatIoNs LIsea
LA FONDATION LISEA BIODIVERSITÉ
2 0 1 4 - 2 0 1 5
Sillon Solidaire:
calling for non-profit
projects to curb
exclusion
COSEA, LISEA, and the Fondation
VINCI pour la Cité set up this
endowment fund in 2012, and
LISEA and MESEA have pledged to
maintain it over the long term.
Sillon Solidaire supports local non-
profits working on projects to curb
exclusion. Its focus areas include
integration, mobility, illiteracy and
housing. It calls for projects once
a year and has a €200,000 annual
endowment budget.
Contact: sillon.solidaire@lisea.fr
La Fondation d’entreprise
LISEA Biodiversité
www.lisea.fr/partenaire-des-territoires/nos-fondations
La Fondation d’entreprise
LISEA Carbone
www.lisea.fr/partenaire-des-territoires/nos-fondations

16. NEWS FEEDS
Twitter : @LGVSEA_LISEA
Facebook : Partenaire des territoires LGV-SEA-Tours-Bordeaux-2017
THE FULL STORY,
AND ALL THE AERIAL FOOTAGE:
www.youtube.com/user/LGVSEAToursBordeaux
AND ON:
Linkedin-lisea
www.lisea.fr
contact@lisea.fr
S O U T H E U R O P E A T L A N T I C H I G H - S P E E D R A I L L I N E