These are announcements that should further increase enthusiasm for the train. The State confirms that it will order new rolling stock for night trains and for the Bordeaux-Marseille cross link. It is about finally replacing the Corail trains that will celebrate their 50th anniversary and that are losing power.
With investments for new maintenance centers, the expense “will be several hundred million euros.”
Let us remember that it is the State that manages and finances these balance trains known as Intercités as the organizing authority, subsidizing them and ordering equipment. SNCF Voyageurs is the operator.
Shortage
This is good news for the increasingly numerous night train fans in France, with 800,000 passengers this year, attendance that has doubled in five years thanks to the reopening of some lines, including Paris-Nice, which brings together to more travelers. Customers who, however, regret the state of the trains offered, which pale in comparison to the night trains of our neighbors, especially the Austrians.
We still do not know if the State will opt for new equipment. Which is a challenge. Many new players, like Midnight Train, are desperate because they can’t afford new sleeper cars. As for second-hand paddles, they are very rare.
In reality, almost no European industrialist now has the tools to do so. Manufacturers have simply adapted to the demand of recent years, when night trains were clearly buried.
“The sector has focused almost exclusively on self-propelled trains,” explains railway expert Frédéric de Dekemmter, that is, trains in which the locomotive is part of the train in front and behind, such as the TGV or even the latest generations of TER.
“The automobile market is neglected because it is increasingly less used and has little demand from operators. Only the German Siemens has retained this business” thanks to orders from the Austrian operator ÖBB for its night jetscontinue. “In Austria the night train is cultural,” emphasizes the expert.
However, taking into account the madness In the case of night trains, shouldn’t manufacturers adapt to take advantage of this unexpected benefit? “This is still a niche market for Alstom and other companies,” underlines Frédéric Dekemmter. So it will continue.
Another announcement from Pierre-Christophe Soncarrieu: “in the coming weeks the order for Oxygène trains for the Bordeaux-Marseille service will be completed, the start of which could take place as early as 2028.”
Delay of the new Oxygène trains
With the new maintenance center in Bordeaux, the State investment “will be of the order of 650 million euros.”
Let us remember that the Oxygène trains, manufactured by the Spanish CAF, will also replace the old Corail Paris-Limoges-Toulouse and Paris-Clermont-Ferrand, two damaged lines. The State spent 700 million euros plus 100 million on new maintenance centers.
Problem, scheduled for 2024, will not begin to circulate until the first quarter of 2027, after production problems already resolved, CAF assures.
These trains will be able to transport 420 passengers, compared to the previous 396, at a maximum speed of 200 km/h. However, the obsolescence of the network limits the speed of the train and this obsolescence is also the cause of numerous incidents. However, the absence of a locomotive will offer greater reliability, since it is a wagon (like the TGV).
Finally, Pierre-Christophe Soncarrieu confirms that “at the beginning of 2025 the candidate selected to operate the two lines Nantes-Bordeaux and Nantes-Lyon should be known in the coming years” within the framework of the opening of the competition.
In addition to the SNCF, we know that the new company Le Train has been presented. “We made ourselves known with our project of TGV lines between Grand Ouest and Bordeaux. But our main activity before high speed are intersections. That is, medium or long journeys, which go from region to region,” explains the general director of Train Alain Gétraud.
“With Le Train we believe that we can further modernize this TET offer and this by working even more on regularity, which is the main expectation of passengers, but also on safety, cleanliness and comfort,” he continues.
Source: BFM TV
