French Transport Minister Frederic Cuvillier has outlined the proposed route and construction schedule of a new high-speed TGV line between Bordeaux and Toulouse.
Dubbed the ‘Grand Railway Project’, the line would extend the Tours – Bordeaux line, which is set to be commissioned in 2017, to Toulouse and beyond to the Spanish border.
Cuvillier said the two new lines for phase one of the project between Bordeaux and Toulouse and Bordeaux and Dax, which would open in 2024 and 2027 respectively, will cost around 9.1 billion euro to construct.
The project will fully realise the planned TGV Sud-Europ Atlantique once complete.
The Bordeaux-Toulouse line would cut an hour off the current journey time between Paris and Toulouse – on top of the 50 minutes that will be saved by the Tours-Bordeaux line.
The second line, which is planned for 2027, would also create substantial journey time savings.
Phase two would see the Dax spur extended to the Spanish border by 2032.
