---
title: A second metro line for the city of Rennes in France
url: "https://www.systra.com/en/news/a-second-metro-line-for-the-city-of-rennes-in-france/"
type: post
date_published: 2022-09-21
date_modified: 2022-10-17
schema:
  @type: Article
language: en-US
word_count: 304
reading_time: 2 min
canonical: "https://www.systra.com/en/news/a-second-metro-line-for-the-city-of-rennes-in-france/"
featured_image: "https://www.systra.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/metro-b-rennes-essai-1.jpg"
categories:
  - Non classé
---

# A second metro line for the city of Rennes in France

![A second metro line for the city of Rennes in France](https://www.systra.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/metro-b-rennes-essai-1.jpg)

![1663915672549-1](https://www.systra.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/1663915672549-1-1024x765.jpg)

September 20th, 5.15 am at the Cesson Viasilva terminus in the north-east: the
first train of line B of the Rennes metro set off to cross Rennes to the
south-west, to the Saint-Jacques-Gaîté terminus. This first commercial departure
with passengers marks the end of a marathon project, which began in February
2012 for SYSTRA France teams.

For this contract, which was won in partnership with Xelis, SYSTRA acted as
project management assistant to SEMTCAR, the public transport company for the
Rennes conurbation, the organising authority and project owner.

![pontalis-1](https://www.systra.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/pontalis-1.jpg)

> “We carried out an audit of the transport system, to technically evaluate some
> innovative rail systems such as the guiding system or the Cityval rolling
> stock from Siemens, which is being put into service for the first time
> internationally.”
> **Arnaud Lefèvre Pontalis**, Project Director, SYSTRA France

Previously, SYSTRA had assisted SEMTCAR from 2007 to 2010 in confirming its
choice of transport mode (VAL metro, see below), launching the consultation
process for the system’s turnkey contract and choosing the system manufacturer.

![20220615-1152530-1](https://www.systra.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/20220615-1152530-1.jpg)

### A new automatic metro line in France

Line B in Rennes is the 10th automatic metro line in France, with a very
specific rolling stock: the Neoval. It is the successor to the Véhicule
automatique léger (VAL), the first automatic metro project in history, which was
inaugurated in Lille and for which SYSTRA was the project manager from 1974 to
1983. It is a tyre-based metro system developed by Siemens.

**Key facts – Line B of Rennes Metro**

- 14.1 km long
  • 11 km underground• 3.1 km on viaduct
- 15 stations
- Automatic driving
- 3 municipalities served
- Ridership: 100,000 passengers/day
- VAL equipment (CityVal from Siemens)
- 3 to 4 minutes between each train
- Journey time: 21 minutes

**Categories:** Non classé