Brussels, 15/03/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 15 March, Commission Vice-President with responsibility for transport Jacques Barrot took part in the inauguration of the first section of what will become the European TGV Est high-speed line. This completes the first phase of work on the largest railway engineering project at the start of this century, which the European Union has co-financed to the tune of €241 million. From June 2007, the new rail link will bring Strasbourg within two hours twenty minutes of Paris and open the way to high-speed travel between France and Germany. Journey time between Frankfort and Paris will be cut from six hours fifteen minutes to three hours forty five minutes. The 300 kilometres of track already built between Paris and Baudrecourt in Lorraine are the first section of a 1,500-kilometre European railway line intended to link Paris and Bratislava via Strasbourg, Stuttgart, Munich and Vienna.
“The line will eventually become the French section of the 'Magistrale pour l'Europe', a 1,500-kilometre rail link between Paris and Bratislava intended to serve the heart of the continent, where 10% of the Union's population lives” said Jacques Barrot, welcoming the development. “The inauguration of this high-speed line marks an important stage in the building of this trans-European corridor" added Mr Balázs, European coordinator of this priority transport-network project.
The fastest line in Europe, with a new speed record of 547 km/h and trains running at a commercial speed of 320 km/h, the TGV Est high-speed line is a technological miracle, says a Commission press release. Its construction has beaten all records: 60 million cubic metres of earth shifted, 12 million tonnes of materials transported (1 333 times the weight of the Eiffel Tower), 338 bridges, viaducts and wildlife culverts, 1 200 metres of track laid every day. The line was financed by 22 partners. The line was financed by 22 partners. Out of the budget for trans-European transport networks, the EU has invested €230 million in the first phase of the work, or 7% of the total cost. The Community contribution, which is an especially large one, makes TGV Est one of the EU's most-funded transport projects to date, the Commission says. (oj)