March 08, 2024
Webuild: end of excavation on Lot 2 of Line 16 of Grand Paris Express
France, strategic country where the group aims to grow together with partners and excellent supply chain
This autumn, completion of all lot works thanks to solid partnership with NGE and supply chain of excellence
Line part of the Grand Paris Express, the most ambitious sustainable mobility project in Europe to connect the entire Ile de France
Strong Group investment in safety, training and inclusiveness, with high women presence
Paris, 8 March 2024 – Excavation of Lot 2 of the Line 16 of the new metro line of the Île-de-France, built by Webuild and NGE, the Group's French partner, has been completed. The milestone, announced in recent days by the client Société des grands projets, represents the overcoming of a major engineering challenge, the result of a solid collaboration between the Webuild Group and NGE, with shared expertise and resources, to contribute together to achieving Paris' goal of becoming a carbon neutral city by 2050. The new Line 16 is part of the broader Grand Paris Express infrastructure program, a 200-kilometer-long metro network to integrate the peripheries with the center and enhance large urban areas.
Lot 2 represents a strategic project for Webuild, which has been operating in France since the 1990s and aims to grow further in the country locally with excellent partners and supply chain. Also contributing to this growth is the strong partnership with NGE, which extends beyond the French borders with the ongoing project to build the Rolling Stock, Systems, Operations and Maintenance (RSSOM) lot of the Ontario Line, the new rapid transit line that will run through downtown Toronto, Canada.
The lot, which stood out for its great technical innovation, has achieved 97 percent progress, with the goal of completing the work by next autumn.
Regarding technical innovation, the project is especially remarkable in terms of the use of precast fiber-reinforced concrete segments for the tunnel lining, which made it possible to halve the amount of steel used in their construction, while also improving the strength of the tunnel.
In addition to the 11 kilometers of tunnels already excavated, Lot 2 also includes the construction of four stations, one of which has been completed and three in the process of completion. The terminus of the Houda TBM, the tunnel boring machine that bored the tunnels of Lot 2, was the Mare au Chanvre construction site on the northeastern outskirts of the city. In the coming days, Houda will be disassembled as was already accomplished by its twin sister "Mireille," which reached its final destination in April 2023.
When completed, Lot 2, extending between Aulnay-sous-Bois and Chelles, will help take 154 thousand vehicles a day off the streets of Paris, thus avoiding the emission of up to 52 thousand tons of CO2 per year. Line 16 will serve the Seine-Saint-Denis and the Seine-at-Marne departments, carrying about 200 thousand passengers a day and significantly improving connections between the center and the suburbs.
The completion of Lot 2 represents an exemplary experience for the sector in terms of inclusion and gender equality: with a total of 55 women committed, Lot 2 was in fact the one with the largest number of women involved in the implementation of the Grand Paris Express. In addition, more than 290,000 hours of training were provided for the integration into the world of work of people from disadvantaged social groups, more than 85 percent of whom come precisely from the areas traversed by the project.
In France, in addition to Lot 2 of Line 16 of the Grand Paris Express, which is nearing completion, it has already completed three other major projects, such as the to Orly Airport and the . In Italy, it is currently engaged in the implementation of projects such as lines, which already connects the city center to Linate Airport in just 12 minutes, and , which will run through the heart of the Italian capital with museum stations to enhance the archaeological heritage found during construction.