FRANCE: Alstom is to equip lines B and D of the Paris RER network with the NExTEO train control system. The company says it is one of the largest signalling framework contracts ever placed in France.
The approximately €300m contract was awarded by Île-de-France Mobilités, SNCF Réseau, SNCF Voyageurs and RATP, and announced on November 22. It forms a key element in a wider programme of resignalling and infrastructure enhancements on lines B and D valued at €967m.
NExTEO is a CBTC signalling technology intended to increase throughput and improve reliability in the core of the RER network between Paris-Nord and Châtelet-les-Halles stations, where lines B and D share a common tunnel. The project partners intend to reduce headways in this section to 116 sec once CBTC has been deployed.
Designed to support attended automatic train operation to GoA2, NExTEO is similar to other CBTC systems, incorporating ATP with moving block functionality and automatic traffic supervision as well as ATO.
The concept was initially conceived within SNCF Réseau, in consultation with Paris metro operator RATP and various signalling suppliers. In 2016 a contract was awarded to a consortium of Siemens Mobility and Atos for the technical development and industrialisation, along with deployment on the central section of RER Line E from Pantin to Nanterre-La-Folie as part of the EOLE programme to extend Line E westwards.
Deployment areas
Alstom says the technology will help to ensure a high level of performance in the heavily used central Parisian section, while also optimising train control and traffic management on the suburban branches of lines B and D in the Île-de-France region north and south of the city centre. It will enable simultaneous management of the differing operating and interoperability rules that apply on the two lines, sections of which form part of SNCF Réseau’s main line network and parts of which are managed by RATP.
NExTEO is to be fitted to the sections between Sevran-Livry/Sevran-Beaudottes and Robinson/St-Rémy-les-Chevreuse on Line B, and from Stade-de-France-St-Denis to Vigneux-sur-Seine/Montgeron-Crosne on Line D. It will be rolled out alongside a central traffic control centre which will oversee operations on both lines.
The first section to go live is scheduled to be the core between Gare du Nord and Châtelet-les-Halles in 2031, with the remainder being activated by the end of 2033. Onboard equipment will be fitted to the RER NG EMUs destined for Line D and to the future MI20 trainsets for Line B under a separate contract worth €239m, funded by Ile-de-France-Mobilités.
‘I am delighted with this new order, which demonstrates the confidence of our long-standing partners in the products developed by Alstom to improve the performance and throughput of RER lines B and D in response to the increase in passenger traffic’, said Jean-Baptiste Eyméoud, President of Alstom France. ‘With this new contract, Alstom will equip a total of 350 trains and 100 km of these RER lines, which are among the busiest in the Île-de-France region.’
