Digging starts on line 15 East of the Grand Paris Express

The second TBM for line 15 East, christened Marine on 25 September after Marine Dondel, project manager for the Aubervilliers sector at the Société des Grands Projets (SGP), set off on 13 October from the Agnès shaft, located in Aubervilliers in northern Paris, at a depth of 25 metres. Its mission? To dig the 5-km tunnel for Package 2 of line 15 East, connecting Bobigny and the Normandie-Niemen structure by the end of 2027. This is the first section of line 15 East to be excavated. In 2022, the TBM Sarah had dug 2.4km of tunnel, from the Agnès shaft to the Finot structure in Saint-Ouen.

The Marine TBM, the 32nd to be deployed on the Grand Paris Express, was custom-designed to cross the complex and heterogeneous geology of the Aubervilliers – Bobigny section, while reusing components from older TBMs that have operated on the GPE in order to recycle the machines, extend the life of the equipment and reduce costs in line with a circular economy approach.

A new chapter begins for the ATMO project

Our teams are involved in the major Technical Project Management Assistance (ATMO) project for lines 15 East and 15 West of the GPE.

The ATMO project, won in mid-2019, is the largest urban project ever undertaken by SYSTRA France. Its objective is to complete line 15, which is entirely underground and runs as a ring around the inner suburbs of the greater Paris region, with the western and eastern sections connecting Pont-de-Sèvres station to Champigny-Centre via Saint-Denis – Pleyel. SGP has opted for a new type of contract for a project of this complexity, namely a design-build contract, with SYSTRA France assisting at every stage of the project, which is scheduled for completion at the end of 2031.

Photos: Société des grands projets, SYSTRA