The start is sporty. Accustomed to the tranquility of line A which they have frequented for twenty years, the people of Rennes and Rennes discovered this Tuesday morning the restless line B. Commissioning at 5.10 a.m. sharp, the second line metro Rennes (Ille-et-Vilaine) can go up to 80 km / h at peak. Above all, it offers an acceleration at start-up which has surprised many travelers, not yet fully awake. To collect their first impressions, 20 minutes got up early (but really early) and jumped on the first train.
Phone in hand to immortalize the event, Nina was also on the trip. Living in the district of Cleunay, the young woman has long waited for this day. “It’s borderline moving,” she says. I very often take the bus to see my friends in the city center but it’s often a hassle. There, I will be able to move very quickly. »
Comfort on board trains and time savings
Like her, many curious people, including many young people, cut their night short to take a short trip on line B. “I can tell my grandchildren that I was on board the first train”, fed up Kevin. A student at Rennes-2 University, the young man takes selfies, impressed by the comfort on board. “It shakes a little compared to line A but the trains are still super classy,” he says. It is super pleasant, very spacious and bright. Compared to the Val, currently in operation on line A, the Cityval offers more comfort to passengers with trains 2.65 m wide instead of 2.08 m.
A law school student, Anna also enjoys traveling. But above all the time she will save each morning. “I live next to the station and in ten minutes I can be in progress”, underlines the young woman, who previously had to chain “metro, bus or walk”. Irène also got up early on Tuesday morning. A habit for this mother who lives in the Gayeulles district and cleans offices in the city center. “It’s sometimes complicated to travel by bus when you have staggered schedules, you sometimes have to wait a long time if you miss one,” she says. With the metro, it will be punctual and there is less risk of arriving late. »
“A transformation of the urban landscape on the surface”
On retirement, Bernard no longer has this concern for punctuality. Passionate about architecture, he discovered, not without joy, the face of the line’s fifteen stations. “It’s still amazing because we managed to build a city under the city without having too much impact,” he exclaims. Present on board the first train, Nathalie Appere also insisted on recalling that the metro was not only an underground development, but also “a transformation of the urban landscape on the surface”, especially around the stations.
“This metro is carbon-free and consumes little. It’s a technological feat but it’s also a long-term political choice,” recalled the president of Rennes Métropole. Eventually, the metro imagined by Siemens Mobility could pass every sixty seconds or so, reaching a top speed of 80 km/h and displaying an average of 35 km/h.