A consortium of Ferrovial and two Spie Batignolles companies has won a rail construction contract worth €438m (£366m) in Paris, France. The contract is for Paris Metro line 18, which is part of the Grand Paris Express project.

The team will build a section of Paris Metro line 18 that involves the boring of a 6.7km tunnel and the construction of stations and ancilliary infrastructure.

The work will be carried out by Ferrovial’s Construction division, in consortium with Spie batignolles Génie Civil and Spie Batignolles Valérian. It is part of the Grand Paris Express mega project, which includes the addition of 68 new stations and 200km track to the Paris underground railway.

Under the contract, Ferrovial will bore 6.7km of tunnel between the Saint-Quentin Est and Versailles-Chantiers stations, in western Paris. The work, scheduled to take 104 months, also includes building three stations and other infrastructure.

The tunnels will be excavated with a tunnel boring machine to overcome the difficulties posed by the Fontainebleau sands and working near the SNCF railway line at Versailles. The consortium has set ambitious targets for the recovery of excavated material, particularly sand.

The project is expected to create close to 350 jobs, and at least 10% of work hours will be allocated to people who are currently unemployed, which will benefit approximately 40 people in the Yvelines region.

“Participating in the Grand Paris Express mega-project evidences our extensive international experience in the design and construction of this type of urban infrastructure,” said Ignacio Gastón, CEO of Ferrovial Construction. “Some of our most iconic projects can be found in such cities as London, Sydney and Madrid.”

“We are delighted to have been chosen for this project, our largest contribution to the Grand Paris Express initiative to date, as it further strengthens our sizable presence at the heart of this major project,” said Benoît Moncade, general manager of Spie Batignolles Génie Civil. “It is also a tribute to the know-how and technical expertise of our teams, who have been working on the Metro for the last six years.”