SNCF is seeking expressions of interest for the next generation of small bimode regional trains incorporating hydrogen or battery propulsion. Following expressions of interest, SNCF is expected to issue invitations to tender on 15th March with the successful tenders forming umbrella agreements to supply up to 180 electric MUs with either hydrogen or battery secondary traction over the next 10 years. Both types must provide at least 120 seats within a maximum length of 59m and be able to operate at up to 160km/h using electric overhead current at both 1.5kV DC and 25kV AC. Interiors must include the ability to reconfigure to meet changing needs.

The first type (up to 30 trains) must also be able to operate with hydrogen propulsion providing a maximum speed of 140km/h and with a range of 600km. The second type (up to 150 trains) must be battery-equipped and capable of a maximum speed of 140km/h, with a range of at least 100km when operating from the battery. This version may also be equipped with a biofuel-powered diesel engine compliant with Euro V emissions standards (effectively trimode) or offer extended battery range of up to 200km.

The strongest contender would appear to be the former Alstom Reichshoffen plant now operated by CAF. Régiolis units are built here and there is already a four-car prototype hybrid diesel/battery conversion operating commercially from Toulouse since December. SNCF has also placed an order for 12 hydrogen-powered units with a top speed of 160km/h and range of 600km that should enter commercial service in 2025. Both the battery and hydrogen units are four-car versions and at 72m length are beyond the scope of the present tendering exercise, but there is also a three-car Régiolis available at 56.5m with 132 seats, although none has been ordered for use in France.

The European Union is concerned about the number of last-minute contracts agreed for publicly-funded services to avoid the deadline for competitive tendering on 24th December. Both Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Grand Est agreed new contracts with SNCF for TER service in the latter half of the year, while in 2022 Occitanie had renewed with SNCF despite the existing contract having three years to run. The period up to the December 2023 deadline was meant to be a transitional period with single-tender contracts only allowed in certain circumstances. The EU believes these conditions have not been met and that the new contracts infringe EU law.

France is not alone. There are similar situations in Italy and Denmark, and an investigation is already underway in the Netherlands. So far Pays de la Loire and PACA have competitively-tendered TER services. Apart from Transdev winning Nice – Marseille, SNCF has retained all of the contracts. AURA is currently preparing to tender its services this year 

Above. Transdev ordered 16 Alstom Omnéo eight-car EMUs on behalf of Région Sud PACA to replace BB 22200s and Corail stock used by SNCF on the Nice – Toulon – Marseille service that it will take over in summer 2025. The first unit in its distinctive blue and white ZOU! livery is seen passing through Valenciennes in November en route to Velim for testing. Photo: Didier Delattre.

On the 7th February CMR BB 67611/67522 were used to move some fourgons and the shorter DEV AO B9c9 couchettes to Le Mans, that had been stored at St Jory for some years. The pair are seen running beside the canal at Pompignan as Train 418010 Saint-Jory – Angoulême, continuing to Le Mans the following day. Photo: Georges Turpin.

Grand Est TER is to introduce compulsory reservations from 5th July on its Fluo services to and from Paris Gare de l'Est. This will cover services from Paris to St-Dizier, Bar-le-Duc and Strasbourg on the Marne Valley line and to Troyes, Culmont-Chalindrey and Belfort on Line 4. Reservations will be free and are being introduced to manage overcrowding on many services as passenger numbers increase.

Apart from the two daily return Paris – Strasbourg  and rush hour Paris – St-Dizier services operated with BB 26000 and six Corail push-pull sets, all of the services are operated by six-car Coradia Liner (Régiolis) units with seating capacity of 279. While some services are operated with a pair of Coradia Liners operating in multiple this only provides similar capacity to the 550 seats provided by the seven Corail rakes previously used. Passenger numbers on Marne Valley services have increased by 25% since 2018.

Developed under the Plan de Relance, the project has been carried out by a consortium led by ETF, with local firm CLMTP relaying track at Gennes-Longuefuye, UIF which supplied recycled materials, and Terélian (Vinci group). The €33.7 million cost is financed by the State and Pays de la Loire région (35% each) plus 15% each from Mayenne département and Pays de Château-Gontier communauté de communes. 

In the longer term local authorities hope to revive the common-user freight terminal at Château-Gontier. This was served during the 2010s by a daily intermodal train to Lyon operated by Combiwest with traction supplied by Colas Rail. The terminal generated some 200,000 tonnes a year but loadings never reached breakeven point and Combiwest went bankrupt in 2016. There is currently no intermodal loading point in Mayenne département or in the whole of the Pays de la Loire région; that at Le Mans, revived by Combiwest, closed again in 2016. 

From 31st May the service will run as before, Fret SNCF operating a twice-weekly wagonload train hauled by one or two Class BB 60000 locos from Saint-Pierre-des-Corps to Château-Gontier with a stop at Gennes-Longuefuye. The usual load is 10 bogie wagons carrying steel and eight wagons of slag in containers. 

Many thanks to David Haydock for his assistance with preparation of this item. 

Above. On 18th January Europorte France G 1000s Nos 1025 and 1029, on hire to ETF, were on ballasting duty near Gennes-Longuefuye. Photo: David Haydock.

Work is underway all along the route between Montréjeau and Luchon, the old track lifted, the alignment prepared for new track, clearing undergrowth and trees from embankments and cuttings, progress assisted by the mild winter weather. On 20th January Occitanie president Carole Delga visited the worksite at Marignac-Saint-Béat, one of the stations that will reopen when passenger service resumes in December. A few days earlier, she had officially opened the new cable car linking Luchon with its ski resort Superbagnères. This is known locally as La Crémaillère, a reminder that Superbagnères was originally reached by a rack railway, replaced in 1966 by the first cable car. 

Below. At Luchon on 7th February track has been cleared from the station area and rail stockpiled prior to relaying. The ‘new’ rail is in fact recovered material from the Toulouse – Tarbes upgrade carried out over the past few years. A few masts remain in situ from the line’s electrification, abandoned on closure in 2014. Photos: Chris Bushell.

Track renewal between Andelat and Loubaresse (26km) on the Ligne des Causses starts on 4th March, an eight-month job that will see the line closed between Neussargues and Saint-Chély-d’Apcher until 4th November. Life-expired double champignon rail dating from the 1930s will be replaced by modern materials after the long-running dispute over financing was resolved last summer when it was agreed that the State would fund the entire cost of €43 million. Presumably, the Saint-Chély steel traffic will need to be moved by road, whilst the work is taking placing place.

AURA and Occitanie had refused to contribute as the line between Neussargues and Saint-Chély-d’Apcher is used only by the single daily Intercités train and steel traffic to the ArcelorMittal works at Saint-Chély, thus falling outside their TER remit. Despite this, the two régions joined with the State in providing €1 million each towards the cost of studies prior to start of the works.

While relaying should ensure viability of the track for at least 10 years, the condition of the viaduc de Garabit remains a concern.

Meeting in Limoges the same day, SNCF’s teams involved in operating the route held a brain-storming session. After hearing representations from users, elected officials and pressure group Urgence Ligne POLT, a series of workshops sought ideas and proposals to ameliorate the line’s poor reliability, in addition to the emergency rolling stock maintenance programme already being implemented.

On the traditional Maurienne route, closed since the landslide last August at the La Paz cliff just north of Modane, work has started on removing the thousands of tonnes of rocks and debris piled up on the galleried section. To avoid the risk to workers from further rockfalls or the gallery collapsing SNCF Réseau is using remotely controlled excavators fitted with cameras. A team of twelve operators located in a nearby portakabin are able to operate the machinery night and day using video game like joysticks. The line is now expected to re-open in November. 

At Monsempron, two DMUs layover at night for early morning departures to Agen plus a third at weekends for a Mondays-only run to Périgueux, their crews lodging in a hotel at nearby Fumel. Since February, the local taxi contract has been replaced by one based in Cahors, necessitating a round trip of 100km twice daily to convey the crews 3.3km to and from the hotel. Staff have complained of the absurdity. 

Above. The summer-only night train to and from Paris was withdrawn in the late-1990s but in 2000 the line still enjoyed a daily direct service between Agen and Paris with coaches attached/detached to Paris – Toulouse services at Limoges. The south and northbound services with BB 67429 and BB 67436 are seen at Périgueux in August 2000.

Opponents of the A69 motorway under construction between Toulouse and Castres are continuing to press for upgrading of the railway to Castres and Mazamet as an alternative. Studies made for La Voie est Libre and other pressure groups suggest that expenditure of €100 to €150 million on additional infrastructure, passing loops and signalling improvements could provide for a half-hourly service to Castres. This contrasts with Occitanie région’s study for complete route-modernisation and electrification, without which it believes it would not be possible to run a sufficiently attractive, fast and environmentally-friendly alternative to the motorway. Today’s best timing from Castres is 1h 07, against the Google Maps estimate of 1h 27 by road. 

Although timings would be somewhat constrained by the remaining single-track sections between Toulouse and the junction at Saint-Sulpice-Tarn, also used by Rodez and Figeac services, the three passing loops on the 55km thence to Castres would already allow an increase in frequency above the current 12 daily trains. Line speed is 140km/h between Saint-Sulpice and PK275, east of Lavour, but limited to 80km/h thereafter. At Castres, trains reverse for the short run to Mazamet (19km). Operating this as a shuttle connecting with Toulouse trains has been suggested as another way of easing capacity constraints, though one hardly likely to appeal to Mazamet passengers (70,000 annually), even with cross-platform interchange at Castres.

Occitanie’s proposal comprises track-doubling throughout between Toulouse and Castres (€827 million), electrification between Toulouse and Mazamet (€105 million), resignalling between Lavaur and Mazamet (€47 million), and widening of Campmas and Seilhan tunnels (€163 million). At roundly €1 billion, the scheme has been dismissed as too costly for the région to undertake. The pressure groups are seeking a review of the estimates and the rejection of their own proposals, which they feel is at variance with the région’s generally pro-rail stance.

SNCF has informed AJECTA that it no longer has the management time and resources to facilitate heritage operations in the Transilien area. Although full details are not clear, the move would also seem to affect AAPSL (BB 17016) and MFPN (231 K 8, BB 69432 and CC 40110) which are both Paris-based, and could have some impact on AAATV at Orléans and PVC at Rouen, both of which run some of their trips into the Paris area. 

While AJECTA has cancelled its Easter trains from Longueville to Romilly-sur-Seine, MFPN states that it is working with UNECTO and SNCF to secure the 2024 programme and is confident that future operations will be unaffected. The move comes as a second blow to AJECTA. At the end of last year, SNCF closed the line to Villiers-Saint-Georges beyond Provins. This only saw occasional cereals traffic and was otherwise available for AJECTA to use.

Automation of Line 4 in Paris was officially inaugurated on 19th January by IDF Mobilités president Valérie Pécresse and Jean Castex, head of RATP. The result of 10 years’ work, the city’s second busiest metro line has been converted to Grade of Automation 4 (GoA4) with full unattended operation. Castex said that the €480 million project had been more challenging than conversion of Line 1 in 2012, which highlighted RATP’s ability to bring the benefits of automation to 19th century metro infrastructure without lengthy periods of closure. A particular challenge was ensuring compatibility across the three different types of rolling stock in use. Minimum headway is now 85sec, with a train running every 105sec in normal service.

 Line 13 will be next for automation, presenting different challenges on account of its two branches and frequent overcrowding. Approved in 2022, the first contracts are expected to be signed shortly, with work starting next year for inauguration in 2033. On the horizon but still at the planning stage is automation of Lines 7, 8 and 9.

Nantes tramway. The first of Naolib’s new trams was shown to the public on 19th January. After some delay due to ‘technical problems’ at Alstom, 14 should be in service this year on Line 1. A total of 61 Citadis X05 cars are being supplied under contracts awarded in 2020 and 2021. Naolib carried 146 million passengers in 2023, almost back to the pre-covid record of 148.6 million achieved in 2019. 

 Bordeaux. Amongst the problems causing Bordelais to press for a metro to relieve the overcrowded tram network, TBM is grappling with the nationwide shortage of drivers and maintenance staff. Despite recruitment of 80 drivers in 2023, the network needs a further 100, while on some days fewer than 100 of the 108 rostered trams are available due to maintenance backlogs. Operator Keolis hopes to recruit 245 drivers and technicians this year. 

Brest Line B. A consortium of Colas companies and Aximum has been awarded a €62 million contract to build Line B of Brest’s tramway, linking Gare SNCF with CHRU de La Cavale Blanche. The 5.1km line with 11 stops will connect with Line A in the city centre. Opening is scheduled for early 2026. 

Lille loses. The administrative court of Lille has rejected the Métropole’s claims against Alstom concerning the late-running renewal of Line 1’s automation and delivery of new cars, scheduled for 2016. Alstom said that the project is in the final stages of implementation.