The Saverne Tunnel (), also known as the Ernolsheim-lès-Saverne Tunnel (), is a twin-bore ,

high-speed rail High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail transport network utilising trains that run significantly faster than those of traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated railway track, tracks. While there is ...

tunnel A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ve ...

in western

Bas-Rhin Bas-Rhin () is a department in Alsace which is a part of the Grand Est region of France. The name means 'Lower Rhine', referring to its lower altitude among the two French Rhine departments: it is downstream of the Haut-Rhin (Upper Rhine) de ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. It carries the

LGV Est The Ligne à Grande Vitesse Est européenne (East European High Speed Line), typically shortened to LGV Est, is a French high-speed rail line that connects Vaires-sur-Marne (near Paris) and Vendenheim (near Strasbourg). The line halved the tra ...

line of France's

TGV The TGV (; , , 'high-speed train') is France's intercity high-speed rail service. With commercial operating speeds of up to on the newer lines, the TGV was conceived at the same period as other technological projects such as the Ariane 1 rocke ...

high-speed rail network through the narrowest part of the

Vosges The Vosges ( , ; ; Franconian and ) is a range of medium mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single geomorphological unit and ...

mountain range, beneath

Mont Saint-Michel Mont-Saint-Michel (; Norman: ''Mont Saint Miché''; ) is a tidal island and mainland commune in Normandy, France. The island lies approximately off France's north-western coast, at the mouth of the Couesnon River near Avranches and is i ...

and adjacent to the Saverne Pass. The tunnel consists of two bores, containing one rail track each, that are connected by passageways every . The LGV Est crosses the Haspelbaechel viaduct near the western end of the tunnel. The tunnel was excavated by a

tunnel boring machine A tunnel boring machine (TBM), also known as a "mole" or a "worm", is a machine used to excavate tunnels. TBMs are an alternative to drilling and blasting methods and "hand mining", allowing more rapid excavation through hard rock, wet or dry so ...

between November 2011 and February 2013. Civil engineering work on the tunnel ended in April 2014 and it opened with the rest of the second phase of the LGV Est on 3 July 2016. The total cost of the tunnel was approximately €200 million.

Background

The Saverne Tunnel was constructed as part of the second phase of the ''LGV Est européenne'' (often shortened to ''LGV Est''). to connect

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

—the principal city of the

Grand Est Grand Est (; ) is an Regions of France, administrative region in northeastern France. It superseded three former administrative regions, Alsace, Champagne-Ardenne and Lorraine, on 1 January 2016 under the provisional name of Alsace-Champagne-A ...

region and home to several European institutions, including the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...

. The first phase across of relatively flat land from

Vaires-sur-Marne Vaires-sur-Marne (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Seine-et-Marne Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region, Northern France. Vaires-sur-Marne is at the western end of the LGV Est high-speed rai ...

(near Paris) to Baudrecourt (near

Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...

and Nancy) opened in 2007. The second phase traverses of rougher terrain from Baudrecourt to

Vendenheim Vendenheim (;; , ) is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department, Alsace, administrative region of Grand Est, northeastern France. It has been the eastern terminus of the LGV Est high-speed rail from Paris to Strasbourg since 2016. Population See ...

(near Strasbourg). Opened in 2016, it further reduced travel time between Paris and Strasbourg from 2h20min to 1h50min and reduced travel time from

Luxembourg City Luxembourg (; ; ), also known as Luxembourg City ( or ; ; or ), is the capital city of Luxembourg and the Communes of Luxembourg, country's most populous commune. Standing at the confluence of the Alzette and Pétrusse rivers in southern Luxe ...

to Strasbourg from 2h10min to 1h25min. The Saverne Tunnel crosses the northern

at its narrowest point and is adjacent to the Saverne Pass, which already contains the

A4 autoroute The A4 Autoroute, also known as autoroute de l'Est (), is a French ''Controlled-access highway, autoroute'' that travels between the cities of Paris and Strasbourg. It forms parts of European routes European route E17, E17, European route E25, ...

, Departmental Route 219, and remnants of an ancient Roman road. The line was originally built for

Réseau Ferré de France Réseau ferré de France (, , abbr. RFF) was a French company which owned and maintained the French national railway network from 1997 to 2014. The company was formed with the rail assets of SNCF in 1997. Afterwards, the trains were operated by ...

(RFF), which owned and operated the infrastructure of the French national railway network. In a government restructuring of the French railroad network, RFF was merged into

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (, , SNCF ) is France's national State-owned enterprise, state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the Rail transport in France, country's national rail traffic along with th ...

on 1 January 2015 and is now a subdivision of SNCF known as ''SNCF Réseau''.

Construction

The tunnel was part of the Lot 47 segment of the LGV Est for the contracting and construction. Lot 47 consisted of the Saverne Tunnel, the adjacent Haspelbaechel viaduct, and an additional of the LGV line through the communes of Danne-et-Quatre-Vents in

Moselle The Moselle ( , ; ; ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a bank (geography), left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it joins at Koblenz. A sm ...

and

Eckartswiller Eckartswiller (; ) is a commune, in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. See also * Communes of the Bas-Rhin department The following is a list of the 514 communes of the Bas-Rhin department of France. The commun ...

Saint-Jean-Saverne Saint-Jean-Saverne (; ; Alsatian: ''Sànt Johànn'') is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, ...

, and

Ernolsheim-lès-Saverne Ernolsheim-lès-Saverne () is a commune, in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. See also * Château du Warthenberg * Communes of the Bas-Rhin department The following is a list of the 514 communes of the Bas-Rhin ...

. In September 2010, RFF awarded a €184.3 million design-build contract for Lot 47 to a consortium of 13 companies, led by . The Saverne Tunnel was built by

Spie Batignolles Spie Batignolles is a French construction company based in Neuilly-sur-Seine. The company provides building and infrastructure construction in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal and Switzerland. Company history Ernest Goüin fou ...

and Dodin Campenon-Bernard, at a cost of approximately €200 million. The two bores of the Saverne Tunnel were excavated with a ,

(TBM), manufactured by

Herrenknecht Herrenknecht AG is a German company that manufactures tunnel boring machines (TBMs). Headquartered in Allmannsweier, Schwanau, Baden-Württemberg, it is the worldwide market leader for heavy TBMs. Established by Martin Herrenknecht in 1975, the ...

. The TBM was used to excavate of the tunnel, the remainder consisting of false tunnel constructed at both ends. The TBM was christened ''Charlotte''—in honor of a girl from a nearby village—in a ceremony on 25 October 2011. It began excavation of the first bore on 10 November 2011 from the eastern side of Mont Saint-Michel and completed the first bore over a month ahead of schedule on 19 June 2012. For the first bore, 1932 rings were installed, using 15,456 precast concrete lining segments (8 per ring). The TBM excavated of earth at an average speed of per day. Excavation of the second bore began on 26 September 2012 and finished on 25 February 2013. The of earth excavated during tunneling was used to construct embankments in nearby sections of the LGV Est line. In total, 30,960 precast concrete lining segments were used. Concreting of the final interconnecting passage was completed on 24 June 2013, marking the end of construction of the tunnel walls. On 14 April 2014, civil engineering work on the tunnel was completed, but railroad signaling and equipment still needed to be installed. Service on the LGV Est line was originally scheduled to begin on 3 April 2016; however, a fatal accident that occurred elsewhere on the new line in November 2015 during commissioning tests delayed the opening of the line until 3 July 2016.

Characteristics

The tunnel lies beneath

, beside the

Col de Saverne The Col de Saverne (, Pass of Saverne or Saverne Pass; , ) is a 410-m high natural pass in the north of the Vosges mountains, near Saverne, which permits travel between the départements of Bas-Rhin and Moselle, and therefore between Alsace an ...

, and within the

Northern Vosges Regional Nature Park The Northern Vosges Regional Natural Park ( French: ''Parc naturel régional des Vosges du Nord'') is a protected area of woodland, wetland, farmland and historical sites in the Grand Est region in northeastern France. The area was officially d ...

, a

Natura 2000 Natura 2000 is a network of nature protection areas in the territory of the European Union. It is made up of Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas designated under the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive, respectiv ...

site. It is located close to the border with the department of

and within three

communes A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

of the department of

. The tunnel is part of the LGV Est high-speed rail line, which will connect Paris with Strasbourg. The line is also a part of the

Main line for Europe The Magistrale for Europe (German: ''Magistrale für Europa''; French: ''Magistrale européenne'') or Main Line for Europe is a Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T) project for the creation of a high-speed railway line between Paris and Bra ...

trans-European high-speed rail line from Paris to

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

. The tunnel is in length and consists of two bores, each carrying one rail line flanked by a maintenance walkway and an emergency evacuation walkway. The two bores are connected every by an interconnecting passage. The tunnel has been built for a maximum speed of — in commercial operation. It will be remotely monitored from the SNCF Réseau command center at

Pagny-sur-Moselle Pagny-sur-Moselle (, literally ''Pagny on Moselle'') is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France. Population See also * Communes of the Meurthe-et-Moselle department * Parc naturel régional de Lorraine Lorra ...

. Adjacent to the western portal, the LGV Est traverses the Haspelbaechel viaduct, which travels up to above the Haspelbaechel valley.

References

External links

*
LGV Est
(official website)
LGV Est Lot 47
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924004745/http://lgvest-lot47.com/ , date=24 September 2017 website for the section of the LGV Est which includes the Saverne Tunnel Railway tunnels in France Transport in Grand Est Tunnels completed in 2016