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VA

The Missing Link

The opening of the CEVA will revolutionize

public transport in Geneva

n 15 November 2011, work constructed using vast open-air excava- be fitted out and the railway track laid.
started on Geneva's new tions rather than tunnelling. Two new Work will take place at seven sites:
O suburban railway line rail bridges, one across the Arve and the • Saint Jean-Jonction, with the com-
known as the CEVA -- the acro- other over the Seymaz, will be required. plete renovation of the viaduct over the
nym for Cornavin, Eaux-Vives, The intention is that, during construc- Rhône;
Annemasse. Preparatory work tion, it will still be possible to access the • La Praille with a new station at Lancy—
consisted of demolishing buil- shops, public transport and main roads Pont-Rouge;
dings, cutting down trees, and in the vicinity of the new stations. • The Carouge—Bachet station and the
deviating underground pipes and Pinchat Tunnel;
cables (water, gas, electricity, tele- An effort will be made on the Swiss part • A station and tunnel at Champel—
phone, Internet and drains). of the line to respect environmental Hôpital;
concerns. Because much of the work will • Val d'Arve including a tunnel and a
At present, over 550,000 border cros- take place in built-up areas, techniques bridge,
sings take place every working day as will be used that will, as far as possible, • Eaux-Vives station with a new shop-
people come to jobs in the Canton of limit the impact on people living in the ping and cultural centre;
Geneva and then go home to neigh- neighbourhood. As work advances, in- • And finally the Trois-Chênes sector
bouring France -- 20% more than it formation will be provided at each new with the Chêne-Bourg station and the
was in 2002. However, only 16% of these station about progress in the vicinity burying of the present railway line. Work
journeys take place on buses and trams -- each sector using a different colour on the Chêne-Bourg-Annemasse section
due to the fact that it is not convenient code. Webcams placed at the principal will not start until 2014 so that the pre-
to reach all parts of the city quickly using work sites will also enable you to follow sent line can still be used by commuters
Geneva's public transport network. The progress day by day. Every six months, up to that time. A special co-ordinated
result is that in the morning and evening the general public will be able to visit the tram service will allow passengers to
rush hours Geneva's roads are satura- work-sites during open days. reach the centre of Geneva. The crea-
ted. CEVA will transform the journey for tion of a "green path" running from the
people travelling from the Annemasse The new station at Champel will be station at Eaux-Vives to the frontier will
direction to Geneva and provide an alter- located 25 metres underground and conclude the work.
native to the car journey. When it comes will consist of three levels. The tunnels
into service in the spring of 2017 it will of Pinchat and Champel will also have The cost of CEVA amounts to 1,567 bil-
be possible to reach central Geneva from an impact on the surface of the land, lion Swiss francs, which is financed
more than forty railway stations situa- particularly on the banks of the Arve at 55.47% by the Swiss Confederation and
ted within sixty kilometres of Geneva. Carouge where a large construction site 44.53% by Geneva. The financial arrange-
Indeed, CEVA will make it possible to will be located. The existing railway line ments are set down in a convention
connect the stations of Lausanne, Belle- between Annemasse and Eaux-Vives signed between the Confederation, the
garde, Annecy, Saint Gervais and Evian. will be placed in a covered underground Republic and Canton of Geneva and
trench, which means that the trains will the Swiss Federal Railways (CFF). The
There will be sixteen kilometres of rail- make far less noise and there will be Federal Government's share amounts to
lway track between the stations at Anne- many opportunities for people to cross 869 million francs, while the cantonal
masse and Cornavin, fourteen of them the railway lines. In order to bury the government's contribution is provided
on Swiss soil, two-thirds of which will railway line, the trees in the vicinity will through the adoption of two local laws
be placed in tunnels. As well as the main have to be cut down, but trees removed and the sale of land and commercial
station at Cornavin, five new stations will during construction work will be re- sites that will become available through
be built in the suburbs of Geneva within placed with new ones. the construction of the new stations and
reach of hundreds of thousands of its tunnels.
citizens: Lancy-Pont-Rouge; Carouge- From January 2012 and for the next four
Bachet; Champel-Hôpital; Eaux-Vives; years the construction of the rail lines Dare we mention that what is missing
and Chêne-Bourg. Many of these sta- and tunnels will take place. During the now is a bridge across the rade - a most
tions will be located underground, subsequent two years, the stations will sensitive issue!

132 Geneva