French railway news – Page 29
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NewsConnection concerns raised as Ouigo expands
FRANCE: The European timetable change on December 9 marks a further expansion of SNCF’s low-cost high speed operation Ouigo. Routes to be added to the network include three daily return services between Paris-Lyon and Marseille, and three between Lille-Flandres and Marseille. When Ouigo was launched in April 2013, it operated ...
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NewsBelfort – Delle reopening to revive Franco-Swiss link
EUROPE: The 22 km missing link between Belfort in eastern France and Delle on the border with Switzerland is to reopen for passenger trains with the European timetable change on December 9, following a formal opening ceremony on December 6 to be attended by French Transport Minister Elisabeth Borne and ...
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NewsOperator selected for CDG Express airport rail link
FRANCE: The government has selected the Hello Paris consortium of Keolis and RATP Dev as preferred bidder for the concession to operate the future CDG Express airport rail link, the Ministry of Sustainable Development announced on November 19. Keolis said the consortium expected to sign the contract before the end ...
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NewsHauts-de-France EMU order
FRANCE: Acting on behalf of the Hauts-de-France region, SNCF has awarded Bombardier Transportation a firm order to supply 19 Omneo Premium double-deck inter-city electric multiple-units. The order announced on November 19 has been placed within a 2010 framework covering up to 860 Omneo/Regio 2N units and is valued at €256m, ...
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NewsSNCF to sell Ouibus to BlaBlaCar in multimodal partnership
FRANCE: SNCF is to sell its loss-making Ouibus long-distance coach operations to the digital ride-sharing specialist BlaBlaCar under a multimodal development partnership announced on November 12. After a decade of head-to-head competition, the national railway has entered exclusive negotiations with the ‘leading French start-up in the mobility sector’. While the ...
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NewsDigital freight train pioneers automated brake tests
FRANCE: In a presentation at the Alpine Rail Optimisation conference in Wien on November 8 Director of Wagon Management at SNCF Fret Nicolas Czernecki confirmed that the operator had become the first railway in Europe to implement automated brake testing on commercial freight trains. Under a pilot programme for ...
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NewsCalais – Torino rail motorway service launched
EUROPE: A 'rail motorway' service carrying unaccompanied lorry trailers between Calais and Torino was inaugurated with a ceremony at the Channel port on November 6. This is the fourth route to be launched by SNCF’s rail motorway subsidiary VIIA. There are initially three round trips per week on the new ...
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NewsBluetooth beacon competition to enhance stations
FRANCE: SNCF’s stations business Gares & Connexions has launched an innovation competition branded Open Beacon aimed at enhancing the accessibility of and service offering at major stations. The term ‘open beacon’ refers to Gares & Connexions’ plan to install Bluetooth geolocation tags in more than 300 stations across the country. ...
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NewsAerospace innovation for rolling stock electrical systems
FRANCE: Alstom, IGE+XAO and Safran have agreed to establish a centre of excellence for onboard electrical systems in Toulouse. Located at aerospace equipment manufacturer Safran Electrical & Power’s site, the facility will be able to accommodate up to 100 engineers. IGE+XAO is providing design, simulation and manufacturing software under a ...
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Rail Business UKStudy to look at adapting Bordeaux station to handle London trains
EUROPE: The four infrastructure managers responsible for the high speed lines between London and Bordeaux have agreed to study the feasibility of adapting Bordeaux Saint-Jean station to handle international passengers traveling to and from the UK. SNCF Réseau, Eurotunnel, Lisea and HS1 said the October 10 agreement was a key ...
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News€50m plan to link Paris stations as an ‘integrated hub’
FRANCE: Transport authority Île-de-France Mobilités has outlined a 10-point package running until 2024 to rehabilitate the urban realm around Nord and Est stations in Paris, as well as improving access between them. The €50m programme is intended to enhance the walking routes between the two stations, which using existing streets ...
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NewsFirst Caen tram delivered
FRANCE: The first Citadis X05 tram arrived at the Fleury-sur-Orne depot in Caen on October 4, having left Alstom’s La Rochelle factory two days earlier. In November 2016 the city awarded Alstom a €52m contract to supply 23 trams for the 16·8 km three-line network which is ...
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NewsDB expands international ticket purchase options
EUROPE: Deutsche Bahn has expanded the range of cross-border and foreign rail tickets which can be booked through its website and mobile app. Passengers can now book travel on SNCF and Thalys services, and Eurostar is to be added from October 8. Until now only selected connections were offered ...
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NewsRefit agreed as French night trains reprieved again
FRANCE: Transport Minister Élisabeth Borne has authorised a €30m injection of funding to revitalise the country’s two remaining overnight trains which link Paris with Briançon in the Hautes-Alpes region and Latour-de-Carol in Pyrénées-Orientales with a portion for Rodez. Seeking to allay suggestions that the heavily subsidised services would be withdrawn, ...
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NewsPepy promises to make SNCF ‘fit for the future’
INNOTRANS: The trade union strike action which has disrupted France’s rail network for much of this year has cost national railway group SNCF €780m, President Guillaume Pepy said at the InnoTrans trade show in Berlin on September 19. Speaking alongside SNCF Réseau President Patrick Jeantet, Pepy nevertheless painted a picture ...
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NewsLocos for French leg of Paris - Moscow service
EUROPE: A deal for Voyages SNCF to lease three Bombardier Transportation locomotives from MRCE to haul part of Russian Railways’ Paris – Moscow passenger service was confirmed at InnoTrans 2018 on September 19. From December 2018, Voyages SNCF will extend its section of the route from Paris as far as ...
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NewsMadrid - Montpellier open access service approved
SPAIN: National competition authority CNMC announced on September 17 that it had approved Intermodalidad de Levante SA's plans to launch an open-access passenger service between Madrid and Montpellier. The Air Nostrum subsidiary has applied to run two trains each way per day, calling at Zaragoza, Barcelona, Perpignan and Narbonne. EU ...
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NewsHybrid regional train to be tested
FRANCE: Plans to convert a TER regional multiple-unit into a prototype overhead electric, battery and diesel hybrid unit were announced by SNCF and Alstom on September 17. The Grand Est, Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Occitanie regions and Alstom are to spend €16.6m converting and testing the Régiolis unit, which will be taken ...
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NewsSNCF targets autonomous trains in five years
FRANCE: SNCF expects to see ‘semi-autonomous’ trains running on the French rail network by 2020 and fully automatic trains within five years, following the establishment of two consortia of suppliers and research institutes to develop and implement the technology. Providing an update on progress with the Train Autonome research programme ...
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NewsUrban hubs prioritised in French infrastructure programme
FRANCE: On September 11 Transport Minister Elisabeth Borne outlined her ministry’s infrastructure spending priorities for the decade to 2028. In the rail sector, spending is to be focused on the ‘everyday needs of users’ in keeping with the priorities set out in mid-2017 by President Emmanuel Macron. Offering a ‘clear, ...