---
title: Southern Europe Atlantic High Speed Line
url: "https://www.systra.com/ireland/project/southern-europe-atlantic-high-speed-line/"
type: projects
date_published: 2023-06-27
date_modified: 2026-05-06
schema:
  @type: WebPage
language: en-IE
word_count: 486
reading_time: 3 min
canonical: "https://www.systra.com/ireland/project/southern-europe-atlantic-high-speed-line/"
featured_image: "https://www.systra.com/ireland/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2023/06/lgv-sea-aerienne012-scaled.jpg"
type-market:
  - Transport
project-market:
  - High Speed Rail
project-location:
  - International
---

# Southern Europe Atlantic High Speed Line

![Southern Europe Atlantic High Speed Line](https://www.systra.com/ireland/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2023/06/lgv-sea-aerienne012-scaled.jpg)

### Delivering one of Europe’s Largest Rail Projects

**The latest addition to the French network of high speed rail lines opened between Tours and Bordeaux in July 2017. SYSTRA has been at the heart of the project for the last decade, working as design project manager as well as setting up joint ventures to manage signalling, telecommunications, energy and superstructure. The railway has come in on budget and ahead of schedule.**

The Tours-Bordeaux route is one of Europe’s largest rail projects and represents
a public private partnership investment of Euro 7.8bn to build nearly 340km of
new track, 303km of which is high speed. The route links the cities of the
Atlantic coast to the Paris region and Eastern France and improves high speed
connection to Spanish trading markets. Journey time between Paris and Bordeaux
has been cut by 50 minutes to just 2 hours 5 minutes.

![Southern Europe Atlantic High Speed Line](https://www.systra.com/ireland/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2023/06/lgv-sea-aerienne014.jpg)

### SYSTRA’S ROLE

With its partners, SYSTRA has managed and delivered on behalf of its client
COSEA (Southern Europe Atlantic Construction):

- Design – including scheme design, design of civil engineering structures and
  railway equipment, management of administrative issues, planning management
  and production of operating plans.
- Power supplies – management of six of the 15 lots as well as purchasing and
  testing.
- Superstructure – design and construction of track and catenary systems
- Signalling and telecommunication – design.
- SYSTRA is also the exclusive supplier for the line’s operations and
  maintenance organisation MESEA (Southern Europe Atlantic Maintenance) which
  has a 40-year agreement to look after the route.

We have helped design-in reduced maintenance requirements. The 250 bridges that
cross over the new line have been designed so that there are no bearings on the
piers next to the high speed line to reduce maintenance. Each one has been built
using the same system: a precast concrete kit, fabricated off site.

Standardisation and offsite manufacture have delivered huge time savings in the
construction of seven of the major viaducts along the route. Using around 400
standardised post-tensioned concrete box sections, each bridge deck has been
constructed in two months.

The project has been a huge effort by SYSTRA with 500 of its personnel employed
on the Southern Europe Atlantic line at peak.

![](https://www.systra.com/ireland/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2023/06/lgv-sea-aerienne030-1024x683.jpg)

[Join our community](https://www.systra.com/ireland/register/join-our-community/)

Some examples of projects in High Speed Rail

[  HS2: Engineering the Future of High-Speed Rail in the UK ](https://www.systra.com/ireland/project/hs2-high-speed-line/)
[  Tangiers-Casablanca High Speed line – Morocco ](https://www.systra.com/ireland/project/tangiers-casablanca-high-speed-line-morocco/)
[  Paris-Bordeaux High Speed line – France ](https://www.systra.com/ireland/project/paris-bordeaux-high-speed-line-france/)

[ See a selection of SYSTRA's projects ](https://www.systra.com/ireland/project/paris-bordeaux-high-speed-line-france/)