Toulouse currently has two metro lines: lines A and B. To address the saturation of its road networks, the joint public transport association for the Toulouse conurbation, “Tisséo Collectivités”, has embarked on an ambitious project to develop its transport infrastructures, with the creation of a third metro line: line C. The 27-km-long line will link the north-west to the south-east of the city, serving the area’s major employment hubs. The project includes the construction of 21 stations and will be able to accommodate 200,000 passengers per day. The aim is to relieve traffic congestion and encourage the use of soft mobility, by connecting different modes of transport to the stations, at the same time integrating environmental issues, in order to meet the objectives of the region's green transition.

In this context, several invitations to tender were issued by the contracting client, Tisséo Ingénierie, and Bouygues Travaux Publics, as part of the Horizon consortium (Bouygues Travaux Publics, Soletanche Bachy and Bessac) was awarded batch 4. 

This contract includes the construction of: 

•    A tunnel created using a tunnel boring machine (TBM), with a length of 4,160 metres and an internal diameter of 8.50 metres
•    4 stations: Montaudran Gare, L’Ormeau, Limayrac-Cité de l’Espace and Jean Rieux
•    3 ancillary structures and the galleries connecting them to the tunnel
•    A 650-metre-long cut-and-cover tunnel at the southern end of the batch at Montaudran

The consortium, committed to respecting the site’s environment, will endeavour to preserve the trees and reuse materials. It will also characterise the excavated material to check that it is not polluted, and will sort, remove and process it via local recycling channels. 

In addition to the complexity inherent in underground works, the main challenges of this project, which is being carried out on an urban site and is worth €351.9 million, are: 
•    Phased construction of the end cut-and-cover tunnel through which the TBM must start digging
•    An interface with the viaduct construction site at the end of the tunnel at Montaudran 

The awarding of this contract illustrates Tisséo's renewed confidence in Bouygues Travaux Publics teams, which have been involved in the development of emblematic projects in the Toulouse urban area for a number of years already, including the first two metro lines and, more recently the relocation of the Monument to the glory of the Toulouse fighters or the construction of a 5 kilometre viaduct (batch 7, also awarded to a consortium, led by Bouygues Travaux Publics Régions France) 

Congratulations to all the teams involved in the project!