Egis has been accompanying the development of high-speed lines in France for more than 20 years. Projects such as Rhine-Rhone, Sud-Europe-Atlantique and Brittany-Pays de Loire all feature among the operations on which our experts have worked under initiatives to structure the domestic network. Today, Egis continues to support SNCF in developing lines in the south of the country with the Grands Projets du Sud-Ouest (GPSO) and Ligne Nouvelle Provence Cote d’Azur (LNPCA). Building on this experience, Egis is today exporting its know-how in Europe and around the world.
Egis, a leading figure in high-speed rail in Europe and worldwide
Under the Trans-European Network (TEN-T) programme, the European rail area is gaining structure thanks to multiple transport projects, among them the creation of high-speed rail lines (HSR). This programme instigated in 2006 seeks to develop a network of roads, railway lines, airports and maritime and waterway infrastructure in the EU. The goal is to facilitate trade, bring populations closer and encourage cultural mix. The projects in question can be found across the entire European continent, and not only in France. Thanks to its expertise acquired on French projects, Egis has made a name for itself as a leading light in this programme, and its teams take pride in making their contribution.
In the Baltic States, Egis’ teams are working on the Rail Baltica project. This HSR project, jointly under development by the three EU Member States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, will stretch over more than 870 km. Our experts are involved in the supervision of the design studies and construction work in Riga central station. This mission is complex in terms of safety and scheduling, as the station will continue to operate normally throughout the works phase. In addition to this assignment, and working alongside its partners Systra and Italfer, Egis is also responsible for designing, supplying and overseeing the deployment of the train control and signalling subsystem on the entire project.
In Poland, the megaproject “Solidarity Transport Hub” provides for the construction of a new transport system comprising a new international airport south-west of Warsaw, connected with a top-level railway network. The railway project is made up of 1,800 km of new HSR and 2,400 km of upgraded existing railway lines. Egis is contributing to the feasibility studies of more than 440 km of HSR through four sections including the connecting line with the future airport. The design studies call on the contribution of many fields of expertise including the design of the various alignments, engineering structures and tunnels, ridership forecasting and analysis, power supply, signalling, maintenance equipment and cybersecurity. Over and beyond the usual specificities of a high-speed line project, the connecting line to the airport adds further specific constraints, in particular in terms of aeronautical and radio-electrical rights of way.
In the Czech Republic, the national government adopted a major high-speed rail infrastructure plan in May 2017, which will constitute a central link in the Trans-European Network. The total line length of the planned HSR is approximately 660 km. Egis has already contributed to the feasibility studies on the Prague –Dresden and Brno-Ostrava lines. Our teams are currently providing their expertise to the preliminary studies for the sections Modrice-Sakvice (between Brno and Vienna / Bratislava) and Behovice- Poricany (between Prague and Brno) in the fields of alignment, engineering structures, power and signalling.
Finally, as part of the HS2 (High Speed 2) project in the United Kingdom, Egis has been subcontractor to the company WSP since 2017, offering its consultancy services and technical assistance in systems. This innovative project, unprecedented in Europe, will run from London to Birmingham and onwards in a second phase to the north-west of England.
Egis has today become one of the main transport engineering companies in the world. Furthermore, the contribution of our teams to high-speed projects is not limited to Europe. Our teams have worked as the main contributor to the high-speed line between Kenitra and Tangier, the first high-speed line in Africa. In addition, consistent with the synergies in the Egis group, we have bolstered our footprint in the Asia-Pacific zone through our participation in the Don Mueang–Suvarnabhumi–U-Tapao high-speed line project in Thailand, as well as through our assignment to verify and inspect signalling installations in the Osong depot as part of a HSR project in South Korea.