LGV Bretagne-Pays de la Loire was officially commenced following a ceremony attended by RFF President Hubert du Mesnil and Eiffage Managing Director Pierre Berger, as well as other officials. Reportedly, it was expected that the construction phase of the project would generate around 10,000 jobs. Some elements of LGV Bretagne-Pays de la Loire's construction were contracted out to other companies as well. Italian transport engineering company Ansaldo STS provided the line's signalling infrastructure under a contract valued at €62 million ($80.5 million) issued by Eiffage, while Indian metal fabricator Tata Steel was awarded a €50 million ($65 million) contract for the supply of roughly 50,000 tonnes of rails for the project. An associated project, which was ultimately not realised, would have required the improvement of the conventional Rennes–Brest and Rennes–Quimper lines via alterations such as the elimination of level crossings and the straightening of sharp curves so that these sections could be facilitate trains moving at the higher speed of If this option had been exercised, the journey time for Paris to Brest and Quimper would have reportedly dropped down to 3 hours. On 2 July 2017, the LGV Bretagne-Pays de la Loire opened in a ceremony overseen by French President Emmanuel Macron. Route The line begins as an extension of the LGV Atlantique western branch near Connerré (Sarthe). After a connection north of Le Mans, the LGV dips towards the southwest with a connection to the regular Le Mans-Angers line near Sablé-sur-Sarthe. The connection, at a length of , from Sablé-sur-Sarthe slightly speeds up the journey to Nantes. The line then rises to pass north of Laval and re-join the regular ligne at Cesson-Sévigné, near Rennes. The total length of the route is roughly of which being high speed. The high-speed line featured a total of seven covered trenches and ten viaducts. The track consisted of rails on top of concrete sleepers, which were laid on a bed of ballast; reportedly, a 900,000 tonnes of ballast, of rails and 680,000 sleepers were used during the line's construction. Overhead lines are provided for electric traction, the majority of trains running the line are intended to be powered in this manner. Electricity is supplied by the French electrical transmission company Réseau de Transport d'Électricité (RTE) and is redistributed along the line via a series of substations, this electrical infrastructure reportedly allows for a maximum speed of to be achieved. The signalling