New railway site in Besançon for GCF France

Work on two sections for 45 km of new rails

Once again in Bourgogne–Franche-Comté, GCF France is carrying out the full renewal of another railway line. Acting as lead contractor Transalp Renouvellement, the French branch of Generale Costruzioni Ferroviarie Spa will operate in partnership with specialists ETFM, Fersoudure and Prestafer.

After last year’s renewal of the historic“Watchmakers’ Railway” which runs for 75 km from Besançon – renowned cradle of French watchmaking – to the Swiss border, it is now the turn of line 852 000. Electrified at 25 kV and with a top speed of 135 km/h, the line follows a winding route largely parallel to the Doubs River, linking Dole to Belfort via Besançon.

Two sections of track 1 will be renewed. On the first, between Besançon-Viotte station (PK 410+982) and Douvot (PK 422+655), 11,145 m of track and ballast will be replaced. On the second, between Hyèvres (PK 452+903) and Belfort, 7,822 m of track and ballast will be renewed, plus 3,471 m of rail-only replacement.

“The goal – explains Sabino Carbone, GCF France Management – is to replace about 45,000 metres of rail, install more than 31,600 pre-stressed reinforced concrete sleepers at 60 cm spacing, and handle around 1.6 tonnes of ballast for each of the 18,967 metres of track: every evening, between 18 and 22 hopper wagons of ballast will be unloaded.”

Currently, base camps are being set up: in Dole (main base) to host the C75-2C tamper, and in Besançon (secondary base) for the P95 renewal train, their long convoys and the huge piles of sleepers and rails, both old and new.

The bulk of the work will take place between weeks 41 and 47, during simultaneous night-time traffic suspension (8:45 pm – 5:30 am) on both the track under renewal and the adjacent one.
Average daily output is expected to be 760 m of renewal.

About ten level crossings will also be affected: seven of them (2 pedestrian, 5 for road traffic) will have their rubber deckings replaced. Upgrade works are also planned for the platforms of the small stations of Novillars and Héricourt.
Completion of the main works is scheduled for mid-November.

Meanwhile, in August, GCF France completed the “Hors Suite” project in Molsheim, Bas-Rhin, near Strasbourg. As planned, several track sections of line 110 000 between Molsheim (Grand Est) and Saales (Auvergne–Rhône-Alpes, Haute-Savoie) were renewed: full renewal (track and ballast) of 2,223 m, reconstruction of 106 m with traditional track type, and replacement of 238 m of rails only.

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