EXCLUSIVE. The extension of the Caen tramway is postponed for an unexpected reason

See my news
Follow Liberté Caen

And grain of sand in the workings of the Caen tramway project (Calvados). Freedom / News Caen learned at the beginning of November 2024 that theextension du tramway of Caen would be delayed by one year. This is confirmed by the president of Caen la mer Nicolas Joyau this Tuesday, November 5, 2024.

There is indeed a one-year delay in the tram schedule, but the project is continuing as initially planned.

Why this delay?

At the beginning of September 2024, the Normandy Environmental Authority (MRAe for Regional Environmental Authority Mission) issued its opinion on the tram extension file and theenvironmental impact study. She asks Caen the sea for a additional study on part of his file.

“As the tram extension will pass inside the Malherbe high school on a right of way approximately 8 meters widealong the fence, we must put the tram at the level of the cycle path at this point,” explains Nicolas Joyau.

The Caen la mer teams will therefore have to backfillthe high school being lower than the cycle path. “This space is considered a part of the major bed of the Orne in the event of exceptional flooding. We must therefore reconstitute this volume of 1,500 m3 elsewhere, because it is a volume which can be used to store water« .

A land has been target on the other side of the railway tracks, near the Caen exhibition centeras compensation. “It will be an area of ​​embankment, a priori of great environmental value which could be excavated and renatured,” adds Nicolas Joyau.

“The project is not called into question”

However, the Normandy Environmental Authority (MRAe) requests a additional study four seasons (fall, winter, spring and summer) for fauna and flora on this plot. This means one more year of study to conclude the public inquiry file. The study having started this fall, the public inquiry concerning the extension of the tramway will not take place until September 2025.

This delays the tramway project by a year with this fauna-flora study to be carried out, but it does not call into question the project at all, especially since it concerns a compensation space and not the tramway route.

Was there an oversight during the procedure? “No, this compensation plot was only identified after an initial study. This was not in the initial request, so we are completing our public inquiry file,” retorts Nicolas Joyau.

Work on this compensation space is planned after the tram extension is put into service.

What timetable now?

In 2025, archaeological excavations will take place atsummerfollowing preventive excavations carried out from February to April 2024. The creation of two new additional parking lanes for the trains at the maintenance center of Fleury-sur-Orne will also begin in the second half of 2025.

THE first works on the road concerning the networks will intervene in spring 2026a few months after the public inquiry scheduled for September 2025.installation of the first rails of the future tramway will begin in 2027.

The commissioning of the tram extension is expected “in the summer of 2029”while it was initially planned for the summer of 2028. “We are maintaining delivery in the summer because this allows for a calmer period for the launch,” confides Nicolas Joyau.

The extension of the Caen tramway concerns a budget of 288.5 million euros, including support of 40 million euros from the State which should be requested at the end of the year. “This is the cost in 2021 euro value. There will be updates on delivery“, adjusts the president of Caen la mer.

Nearly 10 km of additional tram line

Nearly 10 kilometers of additional route are expected in the extension from rue de Bernières in the city center, passing by the theater and the town hall before joining the Chemin-Vert and Saint-Contest district on one side and the Beaulieu district on the other. The extension on the Peninsula was, however, abandoned, in view of the future rise in water levels.

It is a useful project for the territory which needs it from an environmental and inclusion point of view in the broad sense. The tram is much more stable and comfortable than the bus. With the expected aging of the population, it will be much more comfortable.

“We will serve relatively dense neighborhoodsincluding the Chemin-Vert district where the motorization rate is the lowest in Caen due to the economic level of the inhabitants”, continues the president of Caen la mer. “It is a real social and sustainable development issue« .

It will also serve Saint-Contest, an area with many jobs. “There is a enormous tension on the parking lot there. It won’t solve everything, but it will be another brick in the building.”

Follow all the news from your favorite cities and media by subscribing to Mon Actu.