LGV Est

The Ligne à Grande Vitesse Est européenne, typically shortened to LGV Est, is a French high-speed rail line that connects Vaires-sur-Marne and Vendenheim. The line halved the travel time between Paris and Strasbourg and provides fast services between Paris and the principal cities of Eastern France as well as Luxembourg and Germany. The LGV Est is a segment of the Main Line for Europe project to connect Paris with Budapest with high-speed rail service.
The line was built in two phases. Construction on the from Vaires-sur-Marne to Baudrecourt began in 2004; the first phase entered into service in June 2007. Construction on the second phase from Baudrecourt to Vendenheim began in June 2010; the second phase opened to commercial service on 3 July 2016. Opening of the second phase was delayed after a train derailed near Eckwersheim on 14 November 2015 during commissioning trials, resulting in 11 deaths.
A specially modified train performed a series of high-speed tests on the first phase of the LGV Est prior to its opening. In April 2007, it reached a top speed of 574.8 km/h, becoming the fastest conventional rail vehicle and fastest passenger train on a national rail system.

Route

The line passes through the French regions of Île-de-France and Grand Est. The first section of this new route, linking Vaires-sur-Marne near Paris to Baudrecourt in the Moselle, opened on 10 June 2007. Constructed for speeds up to, for commercial service it is initially operating at a maximum speed of, and was the fastest service in the world at average speed of between Lorraine and Champagne until the Wuhan–Guangzhou High-Speed Railway opened in 2009. It is the first line in France to travel at this maximum speed in commercial service, the first in France to use ERTMS, the new European rail signalling system and the first line also served by German ICE trains. The second phase includes the Saverne Tunnel. The signalling centre for the line is at Pagny-sur-Moselle.

History

Early proposals and planning

In 1969, Metz politician Raymond Mondon requested a study of a fast train from Paris to Strasbourg along the route of the planned A4 autoroute. In 1970–71, the International Union of Railways developed a master plan of fast intercity connections in continental Europe. Its connection between Paris and Strasbourg was very similar to the route of the LGV Est. The UIC master plan called for this line to be constructed shortly after Paris-Lyon and Paris-Brussels lines. In 1974, the director of SNCF confirmed that the company wanted to follow the UIC master plan.
Germany, which was developing the Transrapid maglev system, was long reserved about the TGV system being developed by France. A 1975 study concluded that the passenger traffic to only Alsace and Lorraine would not be enough for the financial feasibility of the line. In 1982, recognizing German reluctance to extend the line into Germany, SNCF president André Chadeau announced that the company would not build the LGV Est without government subsidies. The following year, Saverne engineer Charles Maetz convinced MPs Adrien Zeller and François Grussenmeyer to establish the East European TGV Association, which managed to bring together local authorities to support the project.
The LGV Est is a direct result of a project begun in 1985 with the establishment of a working group chaired by Claude Rattier and later by Philippe Essig. Their report provided the basis for preliminary design studies conducted in 1992–93. The initial 1980s plan extended along a corridor from Paris to Munich. However, the expected passenger traffic along this corridor was quite low, unlike Paris-Lyon and Paris-Brussels/London corridors, and a direct route crossed a region of eastern France far from any major urban area.
In 1986, MP Marc Reymann submitted to the government a route that shared a common trunk line between the LGV Nord and LGV Est from Paris, through Charles de Gaulle Airport, to Soissons before forking into lines to Brussels and Strasbourg. In 1988, the German government agreed to a rail line from Paris to Frankfurt via Saarbrücken.
The following year, Philippe Essig presented the route that would later be built and at the same time addressed the other problem: financing. This route, further north than previous proposals, served Reims and Strasbourg.
Financing of this proposal called for contributions from local governments—a first in France for construction of a high-speed line—and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. This was a favorable financial arrangement for SNCF due to low ridership projections and because the population of the towns served were below a threshold for building a high-speed line. The complexity of financing resulted in the long delay of the project. Under the government of Pierre Bérégovoy, the government refused to contribute more than 25 billion francs to the project, and limited the route to Baudrecourt, to which the Alsace region threatened to withdraw its financial contribution to the project. After long delays under the successive governments, all wanting to limit the cost of the project, a two-phase project was finally accepted by all parties, provided that commitments were made for the quick completion of the second phase.

Approval and launch of the project

On 1 April 1992, the project was added to the master plan of high-speed lines, in which it was classified as a priority project. On 22 May 1992, France and Germany agreed to a Franco-German high-speed line consisting of a northern branch through Saarbrücken and Mannheim and a southern branch through Strasbourg and Karlsruhe. The same year a similar memorandum of understanding was signed between the transport ministers of France and Luxembourg. At the European Council meeting in Essen in 1994, the LGV Est project was reaffirmed as a priority trans-European transport project.
The expected socio-economic benefits of the LGV project was lower than other ongoing high-speed rail projects: LGV Bretagne-Pays de la Loire and LGV Bordeaux–Toulouse. The line is redundant to three existing rail lines: Paris to Strasbourg, Paris to Mulhouse, and the combined and lines. Additionally, the international potential of the planned line seemed low, as Germany had little interest in the development of high-speed lines, favored domestic north–south axes, and due to the competition between SNCF and Deutsche Bahn.
The decision to build the line is politically motivated by fostering European integration, serving the European institutions in Strasbourg, and geographical balance of French high-speed rail lines, following the construction of high-speed lines from Paris to the southeast, the southwest, and north.
A public inquiry was conducted in 1994. The following year, a report conducted at the request of the Transport Minister advocated a complete redesign of the project, with an endpoint of the line at Épernay and from there onwards the adaptation of the existing Paris-Strasbourg line to accommodate high-speed tilting trains. In Nancy, which this route favored, this route was championed locally by Gérard Lignac, director of the L'Est Républicain newspaper. Although a budget was not completed and the planned phasing of the project was opposed by Lorraine and Alsace, the déclaration d'utilité publique was signed on 14 May 1996, two days before the deadline after which a new public inquiry would have been required.
A protocol for the construction and financing of the LGV Est was signed between the national government, RFF, SNCF, and local governments. The financing agreement for the first phase of the line from Vaires-sur-Marne to Baudrecourt was signed on 7 December 2000 between the numerous partners in the project, including 17 local governments. On 18 December 2003, the Jean-Pierre Raffarin government announced that it would proceed with several TGV projects, including construction of the second phase of the LGV Est, which would begin in 2010. On 24 January 2007, the financial arrangements for studies and preparatory work for the second phase of the line from Baudrecourt to Strasbourg was signed.

Construction

Construction of the line was divided into two phases. The first phase traverses of relatively flat land from Vaires-sur-Marne to Baudrecourt, where it intersects the Metz–Saarbrücken and Paris-Strasbourg rail lines. Construction on the first phase began in 2002 and it entered into service on 10 June 2007. Until the completion of the second phase, TGV trains continued from here towards Strasbourg on the older existing Paris-Strasbourg track. The second phase traversed of rougher terrain from Baudrecourt to Vendenheim, on the northern edge of the Strasbourg metropolitan area. Construction on the second phase began in August 2010 and it opened on 3 July 2016.
Between the opening of the first and second phases, trains from Strasbourg, Colmar, and southern Germany travelled along the classic Paris-Strasbourg line until Réding, then the to join the LGV Est at Baudrecourt. However, trains from Nancy and Sarrebourg traveled along the Paris-Strasbourg line until Frouard, then took the to join the LGV Est at Vandières.
Besides the construction of the LGV, the project includes:

construction of three TGV stations:
*Champagne-Ardenne TGV near Reims
*Meuse TGV
*Lorraine TGV
upgrades and improvements to terminal lines and facilities, especially between the Gare de l'Est station in Paris and Vaires-sur-Marne and on the Strasbourg–Kehl main line.
modernisation of city centre stations
electrification of lines through the Vosges valleys to permit seamless TGV running

Journey times have decreased as follows:

From	To	Original Time	First Phase	Second Phase
Paris	Strasbourg	4h 00	2h 20	1h 45
Paris	Reims	1h 35	0h 45	-
Paris	Sedan	2h 50	2h 00	-
Paris	Charleville-Mézières	2h 30	1h 35	-
Paris	Nancy	2h 45	1h 30	-
Paris	Metz	2h 45	1h 25	-
Paris	Luxembourg	3h 55	2h 05	-
Luxembourg	Strasbourg	2h 17	-	1h 35
Paris	Basel	4h 55	3h 20	-
Paris	Zürich	5h 50	4h 35	-
Paris	Frankfurt	6h 15	3h 50	3h 40
Paris	Stuttgart	6h 10	3h 40	3h 10
Paris	Saarbrücken	4h 00	1h 50	-