Atlantic TGV: Traffic and Economic Aspects.

The Atlantic TGV project is through the administrative stage and now in the construction phase. All the land required for the new line has been acquired. The civil engineering work is well advanced. The line will be opened on the dates planned: October 1989 for the west branch and October 1990 for the southwest branch. The order for the TGV has been placed. A prototype trainset fitted with synchronous motor bogies and pneumatic suspension was presented to the press on 23 September 1986 and has been run at 356 kn/h under excellent conditions of comfort and safety. Thanks to this new generation of rolling stock and the efforts being made to improve the railway system beyond the new line, the TGV will provide a better service than was forecast in the original studies. The profitability figures for the project have been updated by including the most recent statistics and the operation gives a very satisfactory result for the SNCF: the internal profitability rate is 12%.