Work on Lot 2 of Line 16 about 83% complete. Grand Paris Express among biggest, most complex in Europe

• TBM Mireille ends journey with breakthrough in shaft at Mare au Chanvre site in municipality of Sevran 

• TBM Mireille completes half of excavation of tunnel for section of the metro line in northern-eastern Paris

• TBM Houda to complete other half of tunnel by arriving at shaft from opposite direction later this year

PARIS, May 2nd, 2023 – Webuild and local partner NGE celebrated the breakthrough of a tunnel-boring machine (TBM) at a shaft in northern Paris, marking the completion of one of the tunnels being excavated for a section of metro line 16 for the Grand Paris Express, the biggest sustainable mobility project in Europe designed to improve public transport services to communities surrounding the French capital. The breakthrough by TBM “Mireille” completes the first 5.3 kilometres of the tunnel work connecting Chelles with the municipality of Sevran, resulting in approximately 83 percent of the work on Lot 2 being complete.  

TBM “Mireille” broke through the wall of the shaft at the Mare au Chanvre work site in Sevran, the first of two TBMs working on the section of the line – known as Lot 2 – to complete its journey.  After having started at the south end at the Bel-Air site in Chelles, Mireille excavated 5.3 kilometres of the line and it will now be dismantled and its parts removed from the shaft in preparation for the arrival of “Houda”, the second TBM, which has excavated approximately 4 kilometres of a total of 5.8 kilometres. It is expected to arrive in the autumn.

Webuild and NGE are developing 11 out of a total of 29 kilometres of tunnels for Line 16. They are also to build four of the 10 stations to be located along the line: Aulnay-sous-Bois, Sevran-Beaudottes, Sevran-Livry and Clichy-Montfermeil. The entire line will serve the Paris department of Seine-Saint-Denis, within which are 16 municipalities. The trains running the line are expected to transport an estimated 200,000 passengers every day, taking 154,000 vehicles off the road every day so as to avoid the emission of 52,000 tons of CO2 every year.

Webuild has brought diversity and innovation to the project. Numbering at 55, there are more women working on Lot 2 than any other lot on the Grand Paris Express some of them in key position. The positions they hold range from construction manager to planning manager to monitoring manager. Webuild is using fibre-reinforced concrete segments that line the walls of the tunnel which allows to reduce by half the amount of steel and to improve the strength of the tunnel. 

The Grand Paris Express will extend the French capital’s metro and light rail network by 200 kilometres with 68 stations to improve connections between the centre and the periphery. It is set to improve the local economy, create jobs, promote sustainable mobility and reduce traffic and air pollution.

With a combined track record of more than 14,100 kilometres of rail and metro lines, Webuild is a major contributor to the development of sustainable mobility, supporting efforts to reduce traffic and pollution by offering safe, clean and efficient public transport services.