Rennes Metro: Line B Finally on Track

Despite a delay of several years, the new Line B of Rennes’ metro has been very well received and is expected to improve the mobility of its residents

In the post-COVID era, public transportation is regaining favor in mobility and following sustainable development policies, even if a driver shortage is slowing their return to normal. Precisely, Rennes addresses this with its new automatic metro.

Tuesday, September 20, 2022, 5:15 a.m. While dawn has not yet broken, Rennes’ new metro line welcomed its first passengers. Enthusiastically, travelers gradually took possession of the connection, covering nearly 14 km from east to west, easily, quickly, and comfortably.

The culmination of an extraordinary project

Representing over one billion euros in investment, Rennes’ Line B is one of the largest infrastructure projects of the decade in France. The Breton capital is the very first territory to develop the latest generation of Siemens CityVal automatic metro, developed at the Châtillon research center (92). Despite numerous technical and health-related setbacks delaying metro delivery by two years (a total of eight years of construction), the project’s budget was maintained. A true feat of French engineering, the construction of this second metro line involved 764 companies and created 7,500 jobs, including 451 targeted employment contracts.

Technological innovation

Line B features a 2-minute 15-second interval between trains during peak hours, but the automatic system can reduce this to 60 seconds in case of high congestion, compared to 84 seconds for Line A. Currently composed of two cars, the twenty-five trains can be expanded to three cars if daily capacity exceeds 200,000 passengers (versus 110,000 expected at launch).

The capacity of the new metro is higher, and the attention to lighting, windows, and seats offers comfort in the wagons. It marks a revolution in mobility, as it is possible to travel from one point to another in about 20 minutes, and three-quarters of Rennes’ residents now have a metro station at their doorstep (10-minute walk from either line A or B).

Social and ecological ambitions

The environmental aspect was considered from the outset of Line B’s design: waste management, recycling of wash water, solar panels, respect for biodiversity. Furthermore, it features optimized electricity consumption through regenerative braking, allowing energy savings of 15%. The second metro line further facilitates travel and contributes to the de-carbonization of the metropolis.

With an equitable approach to the territory, Line B guarantees Rennes residents better access to employment, housing, and services. Today, all working-class neighborhoods are served by the metro, and new developments benefit from it, some opting for geothermal energy using underground station heat! Additionally, one-third of users enjoy free transportation.

Once a small city with a metro line, Rennes now has, twenty years later, a second innovative line.

Also read: The city of Marseille will get a new metro