We will have to wait a little longer before taking line B of the metro, in Rennes… The commissioning is still postponed: it will not take place, according to the most optimistic estimates, before the beginning of July 2022. The tests, carried out since March 15, report that there are still technical problems that will not be not resolved until end of June.
Two technical issues
Siemens, the manufacturer of the trains, claims to have fixed most of the problems since two months. The metros ran well during this test phase: they covered 350,000 kilometres, which is “significant“, according to the company. Only two technical problems remain.
“We have a problem with the guide roller, which is the part that guides our metros, as they are automaticexplains Laurent Bouyer, President of Siemens Mobility France. We are trying to improve the system because, for the moment, it requires too much maintenance. The second problem concerns the “waking up” of the trains, that is to say when the subways start up automatically. For the moment, they do not do it at the same time.“
“On a conventional metro, you always have the possibility, during commissioning, to make adjustments. In automatic, there is no room for error” – Laurent Bouyer, President of Siemens Mobility France
Siemens also explains that it is late because of the Covid-19, which has affected members of staff in recent weeks, and because of supply difficulties.
July 2022, according to the most optimistic estimates
When will the metro line be operational? Siemens does not give a date: impossible for the company to know before the beginning of June. The Métropole de Rennes hopes to come into service in July, with a metro every 3 minutes, before a ramp-up that would ensure a train every 2 minutes 10 in September.
“When we make commitments, we like to keep them. So I’m disappointed and exasperated” – Nathalie Appéré, president of the Métropole de Rennes
Nathalie Appéré, the president of the Métropole de Rennes, regrets this umpteenth delay, when line B was originally planned for autumn 2020. “We believed in it for the end of Mayshe admits. I hoped so, for Rennes and the Rennais. And of course, when you’ve been working on it for months, it’s annoying.“This postponement involves further delays : on the redeployment of the bus network and on the implementation of the Limited Traffic Zone in the city center of Rennes.