Flanked by mineral wagons for braking purposes, on 11th July DB Cargo Bombardier Traxx No 186 341 is seen passing Trilport east of Paris with the first of Deutsche Bahn's Talgo ICE L trains en route from Spain to Germany. Static testing will be carried out at Braunschweig before the set moves on to the Żmigród test track in Poland. 

At the beginning of the year only four of the 32 Z 56700 Omneo Premium (Regio 2N) trains ordered by Centre-Val de Loire Region had been delivered; by the end of July this had increased to 25 with only seven more outstanding. They are replacing BB 7200/BB 26000 on Corail TER Remi services from Paris to Orleans, Tours, Vierzon and Bourges. The use of loco hauled stock was expected to finish on Paris - Nevers Remi  services at the end of August.

A new cross-Channel train service is being planned by a group including Mobico (the new name for National Express) according to a report in The Financial Times of 28th July. Under the brand name Evolyn, London – Paris trains could be running ‘as early as 2025’ the article stated, going on to say that ‘The group had held discussions to order trains from…Alstom, and for permission to run services with the operators of both the Channel Tunnel and high-speed rail infrastructure in the UK’. Discussions with other potential investors had also taken place. 

In the latest stage of the Horizon 2024 project to modernise Gare du Nord in Paris, improved pedestrian access to the Transilien concourse was due to be completed in early September in time to cope with the influx of passengers during the Rugby World Cup. The bus exit ramp at the east side of the station has been closed to vehicles and renovated for pedestrian use. The barriers to platforms 30 to 36 have been repositioned to increase the concourse area by some 200m2, easing access and improving passenger circulation; escalators from Level 2 to these platforms have been refurbished. Elsewhere, commercial outlets have been removed or relocated so as to provide more circulating area, in particular for the queues that can build up during disruptions to normal traffic. New information screens are gradually appearing, multi-coloured and clearer to read in daylight than existing panels.

Members of Occitanie’s Commission permanente transport et mobilités meeting on 7th July approved proposals for takeover from SNCF Réseau of the 32km branch from Alès to Bessèges in Gard, closed in 2012 and originally scheduled for reopening in 2026. However, increased costs and safety concerns mean that there will be a two-year delay before rehabilitation can start. The transfer of responsibility concerns only passenger operation and provision will have to be made for the occasional haulage of chemical products to the Solvay works at Salindres, a traffic that cannot be moved by road. In addition, stricter safety regulations will raise the cost of renovating the 13 level crossings, as will the need for further studies of the line’s environmental impact. Rehabilitation is now expected to start in 2026 for reopening in 2028. Cost of the project is put at €67 million. 

BB 60000 take over Saint-Chély steel. Pairs of Class BB 60000s have started to appear on the Clermont Ferrand –  Saint-Chély steel trains replacing BB 67400 on their last regular SNCF Fret duty. This is meant to be a temporary measure pending renewal of the track to allow BB 75000s to operate. However, while the state is prepared to fund some of the cost, agreement has still to be reached with the Occitanie and AURA regions.

A report from the Auvergnat future-mobility association OrbiMob’ published in July sets out suggestions for development of services around Clermont-Ferrand should funding become available under the government’s 10-year plan for RERs in provincial cities. Lines radiating from Clermont were surveyed with a view to provision of more trains, additional stations and improved infrastructure such as extra passing loops on single-track sections, as well as development of community transport links to new and existing stations. 

Responding on 2nd August to complaints about the Hautes-Pyrénées tax contribution towards the cost of the GPSO LGV project, Occitanie’s Vice-President Transport Jean-Luc Gibelin highlighted the importance to tourism and the local economy of bringing Tarbes within 4h 30min of Paris. He pointed to the 60% growth in passengers at Toulouse after opening of the Tours – Bordeaux LGV cut journey times in 2017, and to the contribution the Dax LGV would make to reducingdisenclavement (isolation) of the département.

Funding has been approved for the 2024-26 programme of works on the Train Jaune and its connecting line from Perpignan to Villefranche-Vernet-les-Bains. Occitanie is to contribute €8.1 million (91.5%) towards the €8.8 million cost of further remedial work on the metre-gauge Train Jaune and €3.1 million (66.5% of €4.7 million) for upgrading the standard-gauge line to Perpignan.

The Chemin de Fer de Rillé, located north-west of Tours was created in 1989 when AECFM moved its collection of 60cm locomotives and stock from its previous base at Marcilly. The 3km of track runs alongside the lake and park. In May 2013 Kerr Stuart 0-6-0T No 2405 Joffre, a locomotive that had spent much of its life in France, was visiting from the West Lancashire Railway and is seen alongside Decauville 0-6-0T No 1646 (Carrières de Luzy No 9). Although the two locomotives are externally very similar, the Kerr Stuarts had design differences with the firebox further back (giving less cab space) and weighed 6cwt more. More information at http://aecfm.fr  Photo: Georges Turpin. 

Renewal, automation and enhancement of the Lyon metro is being undertaken by transport authority Sytral Mobilitiés in a €1.6 billion programme running until 2035. Line A is to be automated, driverless Line B will have capacity increased, and rack Line C will be partially double-tracked and equipped with CBTC. The busiest route, driverless Line D, is to be resignalled and capacity doubled to 550,000 passengers a day. The investment is split into three lots to be funded entirely locally: €222 million in 2023-26, €775 million in 2026-32 and €611 million by 2035.