Status Active Constructed 2005-2009 | Start La Jonquera: Line length 8,300 m | |
 | ||
Location Border between France and Spain End Montesquieu-des-Albères: Opened 2009 (tunnel)
2010 (passenger service) | ||
The Perthus Tunnel is a twin-bore railway tunnel between France and Spain under the Eastern Pyrenees, built as part of the high-speed railway line Perpignan-Figueres. The tunnel has made possible the implementation of direct high-speed trains connecting the two countries' railway systems since December 2013, linking the Spanish AVE network with the French TGV.
The tunnel has been designed to allow for freight as well as passenger traffic. It is 8.3 kilometres (5.2 mi) long.
History
The tunnel forms part of the 44.4-kilometre (27.6 mi) Perpignan-Figueres high-speed rail line, built through a Public–private partnership scheme by the TP Ferro consortium, a joint venture of Eiffage (France) and Dragados (Spain), under a fifty-year concession. It took five years to build and was completed on February 17, 2009, although it wasn't opened for traffic until December 19, 2010. At this time the high-speed (and standard gauge) line ended at Figueres-Vilafant station. An Iberian gauge spur was built from the Barcelona-Figueres conventional line to serve this station. To compensate for this delay, TP Ferro's concession was extended by three years. The high-speed line between Barcelona and Figueres was opened to traffic on 8 January 2013, but until December passengers had to change trains at Figueres Vilafant station, from a French TGV to a Spanish AVE, as neither trainset was approved for use on the other country's network. Finally, direct trains were launched in December 2013.
In France, the tunnel connects to the Perpignan-Villefranche line. Formal design studies for a high-speed Perpignan-Montpellier line to connect to the tunnel were launched in November 2009 by Réseau Ferré de France.