On December 12, Léman Express, the cross-border railway connection between France and Switzerland has been officially launched, with the Geneva- Annemasse section as the backbone of the 230 km network, served by 45 stations.
At the official ceremony, held at Geneva-Eaux-Vives station, the ribbon was cut by Simonetta Sommaruga, the Head of the Swiss Federal Department of Transport, Frédéric Journès, the French Ambassador to Switzerland, Nuria Gorrite, Chairwoman of the Vaud cantonal council, Serge Dal Busco, the Geneva cantonal councilman who heads the canton’s infrastructure department, Laurent Wauquiez, the president of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Andreas Meyer, SBB CEO and Frank Lacroix, TER director general at SNCF Mobilités.
The full commercial service by the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region began on 15 December, when Léman Express L1, L2, L3 and L4 lines started the connection to and from Coppet, Bellegarde, Evian-les-Bains, Annecy and St-Gervais-les-Bains-Le Fayet. The lines 5 and 6 will connect Geneva and La Plaine/Bellegarde.
After 8 years of construction works, the transport services on new network are possible due to the completion of the CEVA line, the Cornavin – Eaux-Vives –Annemasse route, and its new five stations.
For the construction of the CEVA line, EUR 1.8 billion was the needed investment, supported by Swiss side, through federal and cantonal (Geneva) funding, and also by French side, by investments from the different territorial communities. EU has also provided financial support.
The 2
30 km network is operated by 23 Flirt trains, ordered by Swiss side, and by 17 Alstom’s Coradia Polyvalent trains. Alstom deployed the complete on-board digital solution on all 17 trains delivered by Alstom and on 23 other trains ordered in Switzerland.
The Coradia Polyvalent electrical regional trains will run on the four lines of the Léman Express, providing a comprehensive service from Bellegarde to Saint-Gervais (East-West), Annecy to Evian (North-South) and of course the connection with Switzerland (Cantons of Geneva and Vaud).
Alstom’s trains have been adapted to the specific characteristics of the Franco-Swiss cross-border CEVA line. Configured in their suburban version, each 72-metre-long train can carry up to 204 seated passengers at a maximum authorised speed of 140 km/h in Switzerland. Designed to ensure cross-border connections with ERTMS technology, the Coradia Polyvalent Léman Express trains can run on 3 types of network voltages. Alstom’s Atlas ETCS Baseline 3 on-board signalling solution complies with the latest European standards for rail interoperability.
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