Rennes is situated in Bretagne (Brittany) in the west of France. The city has only 220,000 inhabitants (500,000 in the metropolitan area; and some 50,000 students).

After Lille and Toulouse, Rennes was the third French city to introduce a VAL metro system (short for Véhicule automatique léger). After the first line opened in 2002, a second followed 20 years later.

The metro was constructed by Société d'Économie Mixte des Transports Collectifs de l'Agglomération Rennaise (SEMTCAR) and is integrated into the STAR transport system.

The first line is a northwest-southeast route through the city centre. Construction work began in 1997. In mid-2000 track laying had begun and the first of 16 Matra trains were delivered in late-2000. These are VAL 208, i.e. 26.14 m long but just 2.08 m wide.

Most of its route is underground - just below street level from J.F.Kennedy to Villejean Université, then on a viaduct at Pontchaillou, after that in a deep tunnel through the city centre (via Gares - Central Station) as far as Clemenceau, again just below street level as far as Le Blosne and then on a viaduct towards its southern terminus La Poterie where the maintenance yard for the trains is located. The line has a total length of 9 km (1 km on the surface), 15 stations (2 on viaduct - Pontchaillou and La Poterie), with an average station distance of 611 m. The metro is totally accessible for people in wheelchairs.

After one week of "discovery service" the metro started operating regularly on 16 March 2002.

The second line is a southwest-northeast route through the city centre, with two interchange stations between the two lines. Line b (16 km) is mostly underground except for the northeastern section which runs on a viaduct. Unlike the first line, line b uses CityVal two-car (22.4 m) trains from Siemens which at 2.65 m are significantly wider than the trains on line a. Stations were built 35 m long to accommodate a third car in the future if necessary.

After some delays, the line was opened on 20 Sept 2022 with free rides during the first five days.

Tram Atlas Frankreich | France (2nd edition, 2022)

This revised edition of our bilingual (German/English) and illustrated atlas includes all tramway and trolleybus cities in France, plus all the Métro and VAL systems. Each city features a detailled system map, some with an enlarged city centre area, showing all stops, loops, single-track section, depots etc. Short texts provide information about special features, while details about history and operation are presented in tables. All current vehicles are depicted in one of the numerous colour photographs.

Angers, Aubagne, Avignon, Besançon, Bordeaux, Brest, Caen, Clermont-Ferrand, Dijon, Grenoble, Le Havre, Le Mans, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier, Mulhouse, Nancy, Nantes, Nice, Orléans, Paris, Reims, Rouen, Saint-Étienne, Strasbourg, Toulouse, Tours, Valenciennes

160 pages, 17x24 cm, approx. 300 colour images, network maps, text Deutsch/English
Feb. 2022 - ISBN 978 3 936573 66 4, EUR 19.50

More info here!

Christoph Groneck: METROS IN FRANKREICH / METROS IN FRANCE. Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Lille, Toulouse, Rennes, Rouen & Laon. - Aug. 2006, Robert Schwandl Verlag, ISBN 3 936573 13 1 (More info)

Jean Normand: Le Val de Rennes: Un combat pour la ville. - 167 p., 28 Feb 2002, Apogée; ISBN 2843981123

Philippe Chapleau, Jean-Michel Niester: Métro de Rennes métropole: Chronique d'un chantier. - 63 p. (20 Feb 2002), Ouest-France (Patrimoine), ISBN 2737330017

Michel Philiponneau: Le VAL à Rennes . - 1995, Nature et Bretagne, ISBN : 2852570211

More metro books >>>

STAR - Site des Transports en Commun de l'Agglomération Rennaise

SEMTCAR - Metro Projects

Métro de Rennes at Wikipedia.fr