• Announced “between the end of April and the end of May”, the delivery of line B of the Rennes metro will be further delayed.

  • The German manufacturer Siemens is facing difficulties in finalizing the tests of its trains.

  • The Rennes metropolis had recently expressed its doubts as to Siemens' ability to open the line on time, after two successive postponements.

In Rennes, line B of the metro is in the process of dethroning the station on the list of unfinished construction sites.

After three successive postponements where the Covid-19 seemed to have a good back, the manufacturer Siemens announced on Tuesday a new postponement of the opening of the second line.

Started in 2013, the project dragged on around technical problems related to rolling stock.

Presented as "a world first", the "CityVal" trains are causing a lot of hassle for the German manufacturer's technicians.

Scheduled for December 2020 then postponed to June 2021, the delivery of the colossal work had been announced “between the end of April and the end of May” by the boss of Siemens Laurent Bouyer.

But the “doubts” expressed a fortnight ago by Nathalie Appéré proved to be well founded.

We will now have to wait until early June to know the date of commissioning.

“We can always hope for the end of June,” says Laurent Bouyer, president of Siemens Mobility France.

Heavy penalties to be expected for Siemens

After acknowledging "having underestimated the delays in the face of the complexity of the system" of CityVal in the spring, the German manufacturer is now faced with its responsibilities alone.

After having shown relative patience, the Rennes metropolis seems tired of the delays accumulated by this project which will have cost it more than 1.3 billion euros.

Started in 2013, the line B construction site went smoothly until 2020 and the Covid-19 pandemic which froze construction and then disrupted the supply.

Due to successive delays, Siemens Mobility could pay penalties to Semtcar, which is piloting the project.

Impossible to know the amount as long as the delivery is not recorded.

Line B will have 15 stations from Saint-Jacques-de-la-Lande to Cesson-Sévigné.

It should transport 100,000 people per day, to which must be added the 150,000 daily passengers of line A.

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Rennes: The metropolis has doubts about the opening of line B of the metro by the end of May

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  • Metro

  • Line B

  • Delay

  • Construction site

  • Nathalie Appere

  • Public transport

  • Brittany