Work on line B of the Lyon metro continues. Monday, November 28, 2022 will mark an important milestone in the extension works. The last welding of the rails should affect the installation of the signaling before the first “blank” tests of the line extended to the southern hospitals. Commissioning scheduled for the end of 2023.

At the bottom of the tunnel, in the dust, workers are going to carry out the final welding of the rails of the metro railway. Protected from the bright light that will emerge and from the heat, the “companions” will sign the end of an important stage of this titanic project.

Launched in 2018 (four years ago), this work is entering a new symbolic stage.

A technological challenge

Before the last weld, a lot of preparatory work has been going on for years. First there were the studies, the diversions of the networks and the construction of works of art, the moment of the weldings has therefore now arrived. The most spectacular phase being the digging. From December 2019 to June 2021, a tunnel boring machine made it possible to build the “tube” of the future line.

Meter after meter, a “factory train” 200 meters long and weighing more than 2,000 tonnes nibbled away at Lyon’s subsoil, at snail’s speed. The tunnel thus made, it was necessary to lay the rails.

When the workers go to weld the last rail, a new challenge awaits the engineers. Make way for light signals and safety equipment. The metro operates on rail regulations. It takes months to set everything up and get everything up and running. You must not be mistaken. The line will be fully automated. Already impacted by night closures and repeated breakdowns at the other end of the network, the people of Lyon expect a lot from this new section.

The extension of line B, one of the largest in the Lyon network (180 000 trips/day) aims to serve the south-west of the Lyon metropolitan area. It will link the Part-Dieu business district to the southern hospitals. 2.4 km long, it will have cost nearly 400 million euros.

After the “dry” tests scheduled for the spring of 2023, it could be put into service at the end of the same year.