The first track on posts for the Grand Paris Express
The SMI in Vitry-sur-Seine (94) is the infrastructure maintenance site. It will eventually employ 450 people and house the workshops and equipment needed to maintain the future Line 15 of the Grand Paris Express. The site is located 400 metres from the future Ardoines station and is connected to the line by a 1,700-metre single-track tunnel.
ETF, which was awarded the contract, is building the railway tracks, the overhead contact line (OCL), the signalling system and the linear equipment (cable trays, dry columns and water lifting pumps).
UAn unprecedented operation on the Grand Paris Express
Work on the Vitry-sur-Seine SMI began in May 2022 with a technical and logistical challenge: laying the first few metres of track on posts. It is the first of the six Grand Paris Express lines to be equipped with such tracks.
The ETF teams from Grands Projets Urbains successfully installed 26 posts within a tight schedule.
These posts are HEB 400, 3 metres high and weighing 450 kg. The track is being laid over a length of 20 metres and the cleaning pit is 2.50 metres deep. The operational teams then installed four 11-metre sections of rail. Meticulous lifting and skidding operations were carried out to ensure the track was perfectly positioned before the post bases were set in mortar.
This marks the start of a major project
The work on the railway line will be carried out in three phases:
- Phase 1: Outside the buildings
- Phase 2: Maintenance hall
- Phase 3: Single-track tunnel
The number of work fronts will increase as the project progresses, as will the technical challenges facing the teams.
This will be particularly true in the tunnel that will connect the SMI to the Paris metro commercial line. It will be a large single-track loop measuring 1,700 metres and including a 600-metre curve with a radius of 200 metres. This will require track fitters to work in sections, from the connection point to the tunnel towards the SMI. Once this tunnel has been completed, work can begin on the interlocking points on the SMI’s diagonal track (double junction crossing and single branch). This project, like all our Grand Paris projects, will demonstrate ETF’s social commitment to employment. For the Vitry SMI, 3,025 hours of integration will be carried out.