Toulouse. In this district, the metro will go from a tunnel to a viaduct: here’s how

South of Toulouse, the machines, each larger than the other, baton to each other in rhythm. One crosses the site, another drills, while at the bottom of a large trench, workers come and go in safety shoes and helmets. Marathon Construction site of Metro Line C traces its route, Montaudron.

Metro will surface

In this neighborhood, The train will go from underground to air. From here the train will pass through a 21 km tunnel and viaduct. An operation that is being prepared and takes a few months to arrive Tunnel boring machine, the digging machine. The first elements of this work train will reach Montodran in April.

“It will take us three to four months to assemble it and it will be able to start for L’Ormeau on August 8,” explained Jean-Francois LacroixDuring the visit of the President of Toulouse Metropole, the General Director of TCO Ingeniere, Jean-Luc MaudencThis Friday February 23, 2024.

It will dig approximately 10 meters per day, over 4 km in total to the emergency site, the Saint-Sauveur well. So he will join L’Ormeau at the end of December.

Next step: digging tunnels, “all at once”

In this site, located near the Halle de la Machine, a summer date therefore proves key. This is the next step in the progress of Metro C, since then Five tunnel boring machines The districts of Montaudron and Colomiers, then La Vache, Rézin and Ponts Jumeaux, would draw an underground line “at the same time, to save time”, recalled Jean-Luc Maudenc. A total of 22 km will be buried and five km via viaduct.

“For the moment, we are on track,” we summarize at Tisséo Ingénierie. From one end to the other, in Montaudron, the earth was slightly removed by a length of 650 meters and a depth of 30 meters.

Montaudron Gare Station – Piste des Gents 30 meters underground

It is at this distance underground that the future station will be located Montaudron Gare – Piste des Gents. This will see the light of day in 2026, on three levels, two of which are buried, and a reception area on the “ground floor”. From the platform, the metro will come through the tunnel and gradually rise to the surface to reach a height of about 5 meters over the viaduct.

But tourists will notice nothing of this transition. They will feel like they are in a bowl.

When outside, passers-by will only see concrete slabs. “We did this because we didn’t have enough earth, so we opened the trench, we dug and we closed it,” the manager schematically.

The long-awaited C line in the neighborhood

After that earthwork will be done. Around the Montaudran station, Tisséo wants to be ambitious. a Drop-off/pick-up area, 80 bicycle parking spaces (including 30 on the square) and bus stop This will settle in the near future station connected to the current served by the TER.

A highly desired future complex in the neighborhood, where crowds still struggle to fill Giant’s Trail. “For merchants and local residents, this is a highly anticipated line,” confirms Jean-Luc Maudenc, president of Metropolis and mayor of Toulouse. “For years we have heard about it. And it is: the construction site is there! »

From 2026, in 2028, this long-awaited line will be dry running for about a year before opening between C. Lebage and Colomiers.

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