FRANCE: Paris regional transport authority STIF has authorised an order for the first tranche of rolling stock for the Tram-Express Nord project, previously known as Tangentielle Nord. One of four key items in the budget agreed by the STIF board on June 5, the €88m procurement decision covers 15 Alstom Dualis trams to run between Epinay and Le Bourget when the first segment of the project opens in mid-2017. The vehicles will be fully funded by STIF.
Also included is €256m for automation of the rubber-tyred Paris metro Line 4, with STIF contributing €100m and operator RATP funding the other €156m. The first driverless train on the line is expected to run in 2020.
STIF has also agreed to step up the level of peak-hour services on the automated Line 14. Headways between 08.00 and 09.00 will be reduced from 95 sec to 85 sec. In the evening peak between 16.00 and 20.00 RATP will operate an additional six services in each direction.
The STIF board also approved the outline design of the tram-train project that will link the suburban towns of Massy and Evry from 2019. The project will be jointly managed by STIF, RFF and SNCF.
