Nantes tramway extended to new interchange

23 May saw the opening of the 1.4km extension of the branch of tram line 1 from Ranzay to Babinière in the French city of Nantes, site of the new depot and workshop and an interchange with 540 P+R spaces and the largest bicycle park in France (103 spaces). This also saw the tramway extended outside the city limits into the neighbouring municipality of La Chapelle-sur-Erdre. The EUR 50M project (with EUR 4.5M from the French state and EUR 2.88M from the European Union) includes a crossing of the Pont de la Jonelière across the river Erdre and a new 87m bridge over the Ring Road that also accommodates pedestrians and cyclists. Journey time to the city centre is 30 minutes. The interchange also permits transfer to and from the tram-train service provided on the Nantes–Châteaubriant line. Trams operate every 9 minutes at peaks and every 15 minutes between the peaks, so there will be 110 trams/day on weekdays during the school term.. 

 

Johanna Rolland, Mayor of Nantes, said, ’23 May marks a historic milestone for our public transport network. This is a considerable step forward for the Chapelains, but also for the residents of the Erdre band Gestures communes’. 

 

In future there will be a link from Babinière to line 2 serving the university sector. The 45.5km three-line tramway network in Nantes (population 655 000) started with a 10.4km line opened in January 1985 (a first generation tramway ran from 1879 until 1958). 91 trams carry about 78M passengers/year with delivery of 61 46m seven-section 100% low-floor Citadis in progress for completion in 2027.