Press Releases 2022-08-01
January 1, 2022
Work Begins on the Systems for the Grand Paris Express Lines 16 and 17 Operations Center in Aulnay
As the lead contractor for the consortium comprising GCF and UNIFER, Ineo, a subsidiary of EQUANS France, is responsible for supplying and installing the catenary systems, track-side equipment, and local signaling for the control center of the future Grand Paris Express Metro Lines 16 and 17. Signed in 2019, this contract, worth nearly 45 million euros, is now entering its operational phase.
As France’s largest urban development project, the Grand Paris Express will feature six operations centers spread across the entire 200-kilometer network. Among them, Palaiseau and Aulnay will be the only ones to serve a triple function, acting as a command center (PCC), a maintenance and storage facility (SMR), and an infrastructure maintenance site (SMI). The Aulnay operations center will therefore serve as the nerve center for Lines 16 and 17, which are essential to the development of the eastern and northern parts of the Greater Paris metropolitan area. Real-time traffic monitoring and control, restoring normal operations in the event of an incident, technical maintenance of trains (brakes, air conditioning, interior fittings), interior and exterior cleaning, and maintenance of stations, service facilities, tracks, and signaling systems: all these functions will be carried out 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from the Aulnay Operations Center.
Design, supply, and installation of tracks
Starting in July 2022, the consortium’s teams will begin—with the first rail welds—the installation of the various tracks at the operations center, which stretches 2 km along the A1 highway on a portion of the former PSA factory site. The center is connected to Line 16 via a 1.5-km tunnel and to Line 17 via another 1-km tunnel.
To ensure the facility’s various functions, the consortium is installing several types of track (on posts, on sleepers, embedded, ballast, and concrete on sleepers), as well as the catenary, track-side equipment, and local signaling systems along a total length of 13.5 km.
While 30 people will be working on this project in 2022, the workforce will triple next year. The technical installations must be operational by 2024 to allow for the start of initial testing, prior to the simultaneous commissioning of portions of Lines 16 and 17 in 2026.
