FRANCE: Transdev has unveiled the first of 16 Alstom Omneo Premium electric multiple-units it has ordered for use on Marseille – Nice services which it will operate from June 29 under a contract awarded by the Sud-Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur région.
The authority was the first to tender the operation of regional services, selecting Transdev for the 10-year public service obligation contract in 2021.
There will be 14 daily returns services from Marseille-St-Charles to Nice-Ville, calling at Toulon, Carnoules, Les Arcs-Draguignan, St-Raphaël, Cannes, Antibes and Nice. The contract specifies 97·5% punctuality, excluding matters beyond the contractor’s control, such as infrastructure problems.
Transdev has created a dedicated subsidiary, Transdev Rail Sud Intermétropoles. This now has 180 employees, including 44 drivers, 80 customer-facing staff and 20 maintenance staff. This includes 31 people transferred from incumbent operator SNCF Voyageurs. Staff training was undertaken by Transdev at its own training centre.
Transdev awarded Alstom a €250m contract to supply 16 eight-car 200 km/h Omneo Premium EMUs, which Alstom France CEO Frédéric Wiscart said had been produced to the regional authority’s specifications. They will be transferred to the région at the end of the contract.
The Class Z59000 partly double-deck units are 110 m log with 352 seats and space for 12 bicycles. They have CCTV, air-conditioning, a seat reservation system and a snack vending machine. They are fitted with ETCS and approved for use in long tunnels.
Transdev will maintain the fleet with Alstom providing 10 years of support. The work will be undertaken at Nice-Ville depot which has been built under a €62m contract awarded to NGE by the région, as well as at a second depot in Marseille-Pautrier.
Delays caused by the pandemic and supply chain difficulties mean only eight EMUs will be available for the launch on June 29. Three others will follow during July and the rest by November.
During this period, Transdev will hire rolling stock from SNCF Voyageurs in a deal worth almost €7m including full maintenance. Three Régio2N EMUs will come from Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, one Omneo Premium from Centre-Val-de-Loire and eight Régiolis units from Grand Est.
‘We will be ready on time’, TRSI CEO Gwendal Gicquel said when its first EMU was unveiled on May 19.