GCF at work for the Toulouse Metro Line B

Track installation started for the new extension

Track installation has begun in Toulouse for the extension of Metro Line B, a project in which GCF Spa is involved as a subcontractor for Siemens Mobility in the construction of the running tracks.

Having completed the executive design phase, GCF has been operating on-site for several weeks with workers and equipment, building the specific running track.

The Toulouse metro, of the VAL type (Véhicule Automatique Léger: Light Automatic Vehicle), adopts a system of bogies with load-bearing wheels that – unlike railway wheels – are rubber-coated and run on “rolling tracks” made of steel profiles. Additional smaller wheels run on smooth lateral supports (the so-called “side guide bars”) making derailment impossible. These same guide bars, mounted on vertical insulators, also provide electric power to the rolling stock.

“To date,” explains the site manager, Eng. Francesco Costa Medich, “we have poured the foundation for the track over a section of about 250 meters. The work schedule now includes continuing the casting of the platform with a production of about 150 meters per week.”

The Toulouse metro project includes extending Line B from Ramonville station by 2.7 km eastward, with an initial underground tunnel section, and then, after crossing the Canal du Midi, a second section entirely on a viaduct (2.2 km), connecting the two new elevated stations: Parc Technologique du Canal (PTC) and Institut Polytechnique Ligne B (IPB), after crossing highways A61 and A620, the Hers river, RD 916 road and Justice lake. This is a major engineering work, and the track installation involves significant logistical and operational challenges that require the expertise GCF has acquired over years of experience in railway and metro construction sites.

Additionally, a "connection section" is planned behind Ramonville station to link the existing line with the extension, along with a connecting track (track 1) behind PTC station, and a single bidirectional track between PTC and Innopole, as well as a parking area between Parc Technologique du Canal and Institut Polytechnique Ligne B.

In addition to constructing the running track (rolling tracks and side guide bars) and three switches, GCF will also supply and install the evacuation walkways alongside each track.

The contractual timeline includes an executive design phase (2023 – early 2025) and, starting in spring 2025, one year for the construction of the running tracks and installation of the walkways.

“In a couple of weeks,” continues Eng. Costa Medich, “around mid-July, the second construction phase will begin with the installation of the steel rolling tracks, followed in August by the start of the aluminothermic welding of the guide bars. Finally, in September, final fixings of the guide bars, installation of expansion joints, final adjustments, and the laying of walkways and cable ducts will begin.”

The Toulouse metro

The Toulouse metro network currently extends for 28.2 km and consists of two separate lines, mostly underground: Line A, running southwest–northeast, inaugurated in 1993, includes four viaduct sections and two elevated stations; Line B, fully underground, runs north–south and was inaugurated in 2007. Together, the two lines serve 38 stations and transported nearly 120 million passengers in 2019.

The extension of Line B is part of a broader metro expansion project that included doubling the trains on Line A in 2020 and foresees the construction of a third line, the Toulouse Aerospace Express – a new line that Line B will intersect at the IPB station thanks to this new extension. The new section of Line B is expected to serve 14,000 passengers daily.

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