Emergency intervention on the Chartres-Bordeaux line

From 20 February to 3 March 2022, SNCF Réseau called on ETF teams to carry out emergency ballast renewal work on the line connecting Chartres to Bordeaux at Sainte-Eulalie.

At the beginning of February, traffic had been interrupted to carry out levelling work in an area of clay*. Traffic was able to resume but with a speed restriction. Thanks to ETF’s intervention, all the ballast in these three areas, totalling 100 metres, was renewed and traffic returned to normal.

With its strong local presence, the Bordeaux division of the ETF Atlantique agency was able to respond quickly to the needs of its client, SNCF Réseau, and mobilise the necessary human and material resources. Within a week, the site had been surveyed and a team of 15 operational staff accompanied by a tamping machine had been mobilised.

Clay area? During heavy rainfall, water can accumulate beneath the track and mix with the clay in the soil. These areas then no longer have sufficient resistance to properly support the track panels. When a train passes over this area, the pressure exerted by the weight of the train compresses the ballast, causing the clayey water to rise to the surface.