Meridiam Infrastructure is pleased to announce that a Meridiam consortium has reached financial close on the Contournement Nîmes Montpelier (CNM) High Speed Link, France. This €1.8 billion project is the third High Speed Link project procured under a PPP scheme in France, after South East Atlantic (SEA) and Bretagne Pays de Loire (BPL) projects. The project aims at reducing congestion in the Nimes to Montpelier line and diverts freight traffic from the city centers during the night.

Under the project agreement, the Meridiam consortium will design, construct, operate and maintain a new track of 80 km for high speed trains. The concession contract will run for 25 years with remuneration through an availability payment scheme, subject to performance deductions and is contracted with Reseau Ferré de France (RFF). RFF is a 100% State-owned company whose key responsibility is the management of the French rail infrastructure (development of the network, financing and property management).

The 80km of new track will be built in 5 years and 3 months by a Construction JV led by Bouygues Construction and does not include any major technical complexity. The maintenance will be subcontracted to a maintenance company led by Alstom Transport and Colas Rail. The scope of the PPP Contract does not include the telecommunication component (GSM-R) but interfaces are managed directly by RFF, the construction of any train stations nor the provision of rolling stock.

The project will be financed through a combination of a long term senior debt facility and junior funds.

The project will represent Meridiam’s fourteenth European investment, alongside the Limerick Tunnel in Ireland, the Vienna Ring Road in Austria, the A2 Motorway (Phases 1 and 2) in Poland, a number of LIFT health projects and the Nottingham Express Transit in the UK, the A5 Motorway in Germany, the R1 Motorway in Slovakia, the SEA High Speed Line and Saint-Quentin Velodrome in France, the E18 Motorway in Finland and the A334 (under closing) and A66 (under closing) in Spain.