Discover the commitments behind the Canal
Find here the structural commitments of the Société du Canal Seine-Nord Europe and the project partners.
Discover the commitments behind the Canal
Find here the structural commitments of the Société du Canal Seine-Nord Europe and the project partners.
Six locks will punctuate the journey of boats on the Seine-Nord Europe Canal . Functioning like "steps," these engineering structures allow boats to navigate the terrain. The lock chambers will be approximately 200 meters long and 12,5 meters wide. The Canal will include two locks with a drop of over 25 meters, meaning a significant difference in water level between the canal's reach and the water level on either side of the lock. These will be the largest ever built in Europe.
These six locks, located at Montmacq/Cambronne-lès-Ribécourt (6,41-meter drop), Noyon (21,07 m), and Catigny (14 m) in the Oise department; Allaines (13,10 m) in the Somme department; and Marquion-Bourlon (25,71 m) and Oisy-le-Verger (25 m) in the Pas-de-Calais department, can each be traversed in an average of 30 minutes. A seventh, smaller lock (95 x 6 m and 11,27 m deep) will connect the Seine-Nord Europe Canal and the Canal du Nord to the existing canal in the Somme Valley.
Lock of Allaines
Lock of Marquion-Bourlon
Lock of Oisy-le-Verger
The design of these locks represents a true technical challenge. Each of these structures was designed by the teams of the Seine-Nord Europe Canal Company and its project managers in accordance with ambitious environmental criteria. Thus, to conserve water resources, basins adjacent to the lock chamber will save a significant portion of the water during the lock emptying process, allowing it to be reused during the subsequent refilling. Any water that cannot be saved is immediately pumped from the downstream reach to the upstream reach.
To limit the use of new materials , the walls of some locks, called abutments, will be thin. They will rest on large masses of silt (deposits of soil and particles transported by waterways) extracted on site and mixed with a precise proportion of lime and binders. This innovative solution is the subject of a full-scale trial program near Marquion.
Particular attention has been paid to the integration of the Seine-Nord Europe Canal locks, which will create new landscapes. Three of them—Noyon, Allaines, and Oisy-le-Verger—are designed to welcome the public , becoming essential stops on tourist routes in the Hauts-de-France region. For example, bordered by 750 trees, the Noyon lock will be integrated into the historical setting of the old medieval town and its cathedral.
This is the average time it takes to completely pass through a lock on the Seine-Nord Europe Canal, of which about half is to go up or down the lock.
To discover the locks in 360°:
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