French railway news – Page 17
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NewsEurostar Group formed as holding company for Eurostar and Thalys
EUROPE: Eurostar Group has been established as the holding company for international high speed train operators Eurostar and Thalys, and the shareholders have announced their ambition for the combined services to carry 30 million passengers/year within 10 years, compared to 18 million in 2019. ...
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NewsUK and Ireland to Spain ‘rail motorway’ to go ahead
FRANCE: Brittany Ferries is going ahead with plans for a ‘rail motorway’ service carrying unaccompanied lorry trailers between the port of Cherbourg and the European Freight Centre at Bayonne near the Spanish border. This will offer connections at Cherbourg with ferries to Poole and Portsmouth in ...
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Metro Report InternationalGrand Paris Express Line 17 viaduct contract awarded
FRANCE: A consortium of NGE Génie Civil, NGE Bâtiment, NGE Fondations, Cimolai and Guintoli Grands Projets has been awarded a €327·9m contract to build a 5·5 km elevated section of Grand Paris Express automated metro Line 17 between Gonesse and Tremblay-en-France, to the north of Paris. ...
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Metro Report InternationalRennes rolls out EMV contactless payment on STAR transport network
FRANCE: Conduent Transportation has implemented a contactless EMV open payment system on the STAR public transport network in Rennes, which is operated by Keolis and used by 353 000 passengers/day. More than 1 500 validators with integrated EMV contactless payment functionality have been installed on the ...
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In depthFrance: Éole makes a critical breakthrough
The completion of tunnelling works for the western extension of Paris RER Line E paves the way for the start of revenue services on the first section in mid-2023, as Project Director Xavier Gruz explains to Jérémie Anne.
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NewsBase tunnel station contract
FRANCE: A consortium of Systra, WSP and Richez_Associés has won a project management contract for the construction of the international station at Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne at the French entrance to the future 57·5 km base tunnel beneath Mont Cenis on the planned new line linking Lyon and Torino. ...
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Metro Report InternationalGrand Paris Express Line 18 tunnelling contract awarded
FRANCE: A consortium of Ferrovial, Spie Batignolles Génie Civil and Spie Batignolles Valérian has been awarded a €438m contract to build a section of Grand Paris Express automated metro Line 18. The contract announced on April 11 includes boring 6·7 km of tunnel between Saint-Quentin Est ...
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NewsSNCF launches Ouigo Train Classique low-cost service
FRANCE: SNCF Voyageurs launched its first Ouigo Train Classique low-cost passenger services on April 11, operating on conventional lines to complement the Ouigo-branded low-cost high speed trains launched in 2013. The national operator is aiming to attract passengers who currently travel by car and coach, with ...
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NewsShipping group buys Russian Railways’ automotive logistics business
FRANCE: Marseille-based shipping conglomerate CMA CGM has acquired almost 100% of automotive and contract logistics specialist Gefco.
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Metro Report InternationalMP14 trainsets tested on Paris Line 11 extension
FRANCE: Test running with new five-car MP14 rubber-tyred trainsets has started on the eastern extension of Paris metro Line 11, transport authority Île-de-France Mobilités and operator RATP announced on April 6. The new sets for Line 11 are the third batch of MP14 stock to be ...
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NewsTrenitalia launches French domestic high speed services
FRANCE: Trenitalia launched its first French domestic open access high speed service between Paris-Lyon and Lyon-Perrache on April 5.
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NewsTGV M power cars transported from Belfort to La Rochelle
FRANCE: Power cars from the first of the TGM M trainsets ordered under SNCF’s TGV of the Future programme, branded Avelia Horizon by the manufacturer, have been transported from Alstom’s Belfort factory to La Rochelle.
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Metro Report International‘Mireille’ breaks through on Paris Line 16
FRANCE: Celebrations at the site of the future Clichy-Montfermeil station on March 29 marked a milestone in the construction of automated metro Line 16 as part of the Grand Paris Express project. After boring 2·2 km from the Bel-Air worksite in Chelles, tunnel boring machine ‘Mireille’ ...
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NewsFrench open access passenger service launch postponed
FRANCE: Open access operator Railcoop has indefinitely postponed the launch of its planned Lyon – Bordeaux passenger service, which had been scheduled to start with the December timetable change. On March 30 the co-operative community interest group released a statement confirming the deferral of its entry ...
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NewsMerger approval ‘should ensure the rebound and growth ambitions of Thalys and Eurostar’, says SNCF
EUROPE: The European Commission has approved the planned merger of cross-border high speed train operators Thalys and Eurostar. SNCF Voyageurs told Railway Gazette International the merger ‘should ensure the rebound and growth ambitions of Thalys and Eurostar.’ Announcing its decision on March 29, the Commission said ...
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NewsCargoBeamer launches dedicated Germany – France train for DFDS
EUROPE: CargoBeamer has launched its first service dedicated to one client, carrying unaccompanied lorry semi-trailers, swap bodies and containers by rail between Köln in Germany and Sète near Montpellier in southern France. The two trains per week in each direction are each able to carry 38 ...
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NewsTramway du Mont-Blanc train delivered
FRANCE: Stadler has delivered the first of four electric multiple-units for the Tramway du Mont-Blanc mountain railway. The metre-gauge line runs 12·5 km from Fayet station at 580 m above sea level in Saint-Gervais-les-Bains to the 2 372 m high summit station at Nid d’Aigle. It ...
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NewsChannel Tunnel track contracts awarded
EUROPE: Channel Tunnel operator Eurotunnel has awarded Colas Rail two contracts for maintenance and renewal of the 200 km of track at its two terminals and in the tunnel. One contract covers routine maintenance and is worth €2·5m over three years, with an option for a ...
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NewsMore French inter-city services in prospect as tendering relaunched
FRANCE: A 20% increase in ridership on conventional inter-city services or Trains d’Equilibre du Territoire over the next decade is envisaged in a new operating contract between the government and SNCF Voyageurs which was signed in Paris on March 17.
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Metro Report InternationalKeolis merges its digital services
FRANCE: Keolis is merging all its public transport related data and software development activities into a single entity called Hove, formed from the words Hive and Move. Hove will take over the 110 employees of Kisio Digital and those of the data team of Kisio Services ...