SNCF has placed an order for up to 255 new regional train sets with an Alstom/Bombardier joint venture.
Worth €3.75 billion, the new double-deck trains will serve lines D and E of the Île-de-France’s RER network. The order is the largest-ever financed by the region’s transport authority, STIF.
Of the 255 units announced today, 130 are for RER D and 125 are for RER E.
SNCF has ordered 71 trains initially. These will be built at Bombardier’s site in Crespin and are expected to enter passenger service from 2021.
Alstom’s chairman and CEO, Henri Poupart-Lafarge, said the train, which is based on a new product platform called the X’Trapolis Cityduplex, represents “a major technological leap forward”.
Each 130-metre unit has eight motor bogies, giving it a top speed of 140 km/h.
