Regular travelers already know the principle. At certain times of the day, two trains sometimes park on the same track at Rennes station. Their paths then separate, one taking the direction of Brest and the other of Quimper. From September, this system, called 2TMV (two trains on the same track), will become widespread in the Breton capital, a pilot site in France. “Until now, two trains could only depart or arrive on the same track seven times a day for safety reasons, underlines Christophe Huau, territorial director SNCF Réseau Bretagne-Pays de la Loire. The new signage installed will allow us to do this systematically and thus make traffic more fluid. »
Financed to the tune of 12.6 million euros by SNCF Réseau, the State, the Brittany region and the Rennes metropolitan area, this project, which required two years of work, aims to reduce the saturation of the Rennes rail hub. Seeing nearly 400 trains pass a day, the very spruce station of Rennes is indeed on the verge of asphyxiation. “We are already not far from saturation at peak times and if we do nothing, it could get even worse,” says Christophe Huau.
Station capacity increased by 30%
In 2020, the decision was therefore taken to speed up this 2TMV project, which is already in force in certain European countries such as Germany and Switzerland. By parking two trains on the same track, SNCF Réseau plans to increase the capacity of the station by around 30%, which should allow the circulation of around thirty additional trains at peak times each day on the five branches. of the Rennes railway star. “And all this without investing in costly new infrastructure,” says Denis Deléris, deputy director of SNCF Réseau for the Brittany and Pays-de-la-Loire regions.
Before the deployment of this device in a few months, special signage will be installed at Rennes station so that travelers do not get lost. And that they especially avoid planting train.