Bouygues Is Preferred Bidder on $1.7 Billion Nimes Rail Line
Bouygues SA (EN), France’s second-largest construction company, was named the preferred bidder for a French railroad-construction contract valued at about 1.3 billion euros ($1.7 billion).
The agreement with railroad operator Reseau Ferre de France is part of an investment totaling 1.86 billion euros in the Nimes-Montpellier rail bypass project in the country’s south, RFF Chairman Hubert du Mesnil said in Paris today.
The group led by Paris-based Bouygues includes Alstom SA (ALO) and Spie Batignolles Technologies. Bouygues beat Vinci SA (DG), Europe’s biggest builder, for the project.
Vinci was picked by RFF in 2010 to build, maintain and operate a high-speed rail line between Tours and Bordeaux that will need 7.8 billion euros of investment. In 2011, RFF chose Eiffage SA (FGR) to build and maintain a high-speed line between Le Mans and Rennes, in western France, that will need a 3.4 billion-euro investment.
The final contract should be signed before the French presidential election in April, du Mesnil said. The rail line should be completed in 2017.
To contact the reporter on this story: Francois De Beaupuy in Paris at fdebeaupuy@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Benedikt Kammel at
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