French railway news – Page 34
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NewsRegions sound out SNCF competitors
FRANCE: The body which represents the regions of France says that there is a ‘strong appetite’ amongst potential bidders for contracts to operate TER passenger services currently provided by SNCF, which are expected to be opened up to competition around 2024. In order to enable its members to prepare for ...
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NewsResearch project aims to automate train driver functions
FRANCE: The Safe Autonomous Land Transport project to test the use of technology to automate train drivers’ observation functions has been launched by the SystemX digital engineering research institute in partnership with SNCF and Alstom. Drawing on the scientific expertise of the Université de Technologie de Compiègne, the project aims ...
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NewsSNCF orders 30 Coradias for TET services
FRANCE: SNCF Mobilités has awarded Alstom a €250m contract to supply a further 30 Alstom Coradia multiple-units. These are scheduled to be delivered from September 2018 for use on Trains d'Equilibre du Territoire long-distance services on the Paris – Amiens – Boulogne, Paris – Bourges – Montluçon, Clermont-Ferrand – Nîmes, ...
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NewsDigital freight train partnership formed
FRANCE: SNCF Logistics and maritime freight technology company Traxens have announced a partnership to develop technology for monitoring and real-time tracking of freight trains. This follows a year of research and testing of digital equipment for use in the rail environment. The project is to be launched at the Transport ...
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NewsFrance and Spain seek rail motorway proposals
EUROPE: Rolling stock manufacturers are to be invited to submit expressions of interest in supplying wagons capable of carrying lorries on ‘rail motorway’ services between France and Spain, it was agreed at a meeting of a working group on March 27 bringing together the transport ministries of both countries as ...
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NewsUPS adds six cities to China – Europe rail freight network
INTERNATIONAL: UPS has added six more cities to its intermodal rail network linking China and Europe. Changsha, Chongqing, Suzhou and Wuhan have been added in China, joining Zhengzhou and Chengdu. The additional locations have been chosen for their proximity to manufacturing, commercial and cultural centres in inland China. Duisburg and ...
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NewsMIT and SNCF collaborate to improve stations
FRANCE: SNCF’s stations subsidiary Gares & Connexions and Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Senseable City Lab multi-disciplinary urban environment research group have signed an agreement to work together to improve waiting conditions at stations. The aim is to ‘improve the thermal comfort, acoustic, visual and other characteristics of stations in France’, ...
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NewsLéman Express moves closer
EUROPE: During a ‘summit’ between the two railways held in Paris on March 9, SBB CEO Andreas Meyer and SNCF President Guillaume Pepy signed a co-operation agreement for the operation from December 2019 of the Léman Express network of cross-border regional and suburban services centred on Genève. Under the agreement, ...
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NewsiDTGV brand to disappear
FRANCE: The iDTGV brand for high speed services which can only be booked online is to be phased out, SNCF announced on March 7. The brand will first be withdrawn on routes from Paris to Bretagne and the southwest with the opening of the LGV Bretagne Pays de la Loire ...
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NewsPresidential inauguration for LGV Sud Europe Atlantique
FRANCE: The LGV Sud Europe Atlantique high speed line between Tours and Bordeaux was inaugurated on February 28 in the presence of President François Hollande, SNCF Réseau President Patrick Jeantet and Laurent Cavrois, President of the LISEA consortium which has built and part-financed the new line under a 50-year concession. ...
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NewsSNCF agrees to order TGVs under Belfort rescue package
FRANCE: Having worked with the government to find ‘a balanced solution’ to maintaining employment at Alstom’s Belfort plant while modernising the TGV fleet ‘to deliver the greatest benefit for passengers’, SNCF announced on February 16 that it would be ordering 15 additional TGV Duplex trainsets for the Paris – Bordeaux ...
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NewsCoradia Liner enters service
FRANCE: SNCF’s first Alstom Coradia Liner V160 electro-diesel multiple-units entered passenger service on the Paris – Troyes – Belfort route on February 6. SNCF placed a €346m order for 34 six-car Coradia Liners in October 2013. Part of Alstom’s Coradia Polyvalent family, they are intended to replace locomotive-hauled stock on ...
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NewsParis orders battery-overhead electric locomotives
FRANCE: Paris transport operator RATP has awarded CAF a €65m framework contract to design and manufacture 12 battery-overhead electric locomotives for shunting and hauling maintenance trains on the RER network, with an option for up to six more. The 1 000 kW locomotives are to be delivered from CAF’s Bagnères ...
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NewsEurostar lounge seeks 'the spirit of a Parisian apartment'
FRANCE: Eurostar opened its relocated Business Premier lounge at Paris-Nord on February 4. Accessed after passengers pass through an expanded security and passport control area, the lounge is intended to offer a ‘stylish, comfortable environment for both working and relaxing’. The facility on the top floor of the original 19th ...
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NewsRER catenary renewal contract awarded
FRANCE: Infrastructure manager SNCF Réseau announced on February 3 that it had awarded its first design-build contract for catenary renewal. Under a €277m deal signed the previous day, the RC2 consortium of TSO Caténaires, Setec Ferroviare and Vinci subsidiaries ETF and Mobility is to replace the 1·5 kV DC overhead ...
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NewsTGVmax offers unlimited travel for less than a car-share
FRANCE: A new online ticketing product offering passengers aged 16 to 27 unlimited travel on long-distance services for €79 a month was announced by SNCF on January 23. TGVmax will be available on 94% of TGV and Intercités services and on every day of the year, with the exception of ...
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NewsChannel Tunnel security centre opened
EUROPE: Channel Tunnel operator Eurotunnel inaugurated a security control centre at its French terminal in Coquelles on January 18. The decision to make the ‘major investment’ in the centre was taken following a meeting in summer 2015 between the UK’s then Home Secretary Theresa May and her French counterpart Bernard ...
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NewsSNCF Réseau forms drones business
FRANCE: SNCF Réseau has established a subsidiary to offer its expertise in the use of drones to other infrastructure managers. Altametris has a team of 20 engineers, pilots and developers as well as a fleet of 12 drones. Services offered include data collection and the preparation of 3D plans and ...
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NewsMore TET transfers agreed
FRANCE: On January 12 Transport Secretary Alain Vidalies met with Philippe Richert, President of the association of French regions, and SNCF Voyageurs Director General Florence Parly to review progress with the programme to transfer responsibility for the loss-making Trains d’Equilibre du Territoire network of conventional passenger services from central government ...
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NewsSNCF awards €3·75bn Paris RER fleet renewal contract
FRANCE: The SNCF board has formally selected a consortium of Alstom and Bombardier Transportation for a deal to supply up to 355 custom-designed X'Trapolis Cityduplex double-deck trainsets worth €3·75bn for use on Paris RER lines D and E. The order announced on January 11 is the largest-ever contract to be ...