Saverne Tunnel 1.39

The Saverne Tunnel, also known as the Ernolsheim-lès-Saverne Tunnel, is a twin-bore, high-speed rail tunnel in western Bas-Rhin, France. It carries the LGV Est line of France's TGV high-speed rail network through the narrowest part of the Vosges mountain range, beneath Mont Saint-Michel and adjacent to the Saverne Pass. The tunnel consists of two bores, containing one railroad track each, that are connected by passageways every. The LGV Est crosses the 270m Haspelbaechel viaduct near the western end of the tunnel. The tunnel was excavated by a tunnel boring machine between November 2011 and February 2013. Civil engineering work on the tunnel ended in April 2014 and it opened with the rest of the second phase of the LGV Est on 3 July 2016. The total cost of the tunnel was approximately €200 million.BackgroundThe Saverne Tunnel was constructed as part of the second phase of the LGV Est européenne . to connect Paris and Strasbourg—the principal city of the Grand Est region and home to several European institutions, including the Council of Europe. The first phase across of relatively flat land from Vaires-sur-Marne to Baudrecourt opened in 2007. The second phase traverses 106km of rougher terrain from Baudrecourt to Vendenheim . Opened in 2016, it further reduced travel time between Paris and Strasbourg from 2h20min to 1h50min and reduced travel time from Luxembourg City to Strasbourg from 2h10min to 1h25min. The Saverne Tunnel crosses the northern Vosges at its narrowest point and is adjacent to the Saverne Pass, which already contains the A4 autoroute, Departmental Route 219, and remnants of an ancient Roman road.