RFF and SNCF have launched a joint €200 million scheme to renovate Bordeaux Saint-Jean station ready for the inauguration of the Tours-Bordeaux TGV in 2017.
The three-year programme is made up of 14 separate projects designed to improve reliability of rail services in the Aquitaine region and allow the station to accommodate the additional seven million passengers expected to use the it from 2017.
As well as extending the station itself and modernising the current interior, money will be spent renewing track and building new maintenance facilities for TGV and TER vehicles.
The 302-kilometre Tours-Bordeaux HSL will reduce journey times between Paris and Bordeaux to just over two hours.
RFF has already awarded the Vinci-led LISEA consortium a 50-year concession to maintain and renew the €7.8 billion route. The agreement requires SNCF to pay LISEA a fee to use the line.
Paris-Bordeaux journey time will be 2 hrs