FRANCE: Ile-de-France tram-train line T12 opened on December 9, on a 20 km orbital route between Massy-Palaiseau RER station and Évry-Courcouronnes RER station to the south of Paris.
The 10 km from Massy-Palaiseau to Epinay-sur-Orge shares tracks with long-distance and freight trains, and has a maximum speed of 100 km/h and the national rail network’s left-hand running.
The 10 km tramway section from Epinay-sur-Orge to Évry-Courcouronnes has a 70 km/h maximum speed and the road network’s right-hand running. This section has three major bridges over motorways.
The Système de Transmission Bord-Sol safety system and 1·5 kV DC electrification is used throughout.
There are 16 stops, of which 11 are newly built and five have been rebuilt from existing stations on a section of the Grande Ceinture Sud which was previously served by Paris RER Line C, with the track raised to provide level boarding.
The Massy – Versailles section of Line C is now designated as Line V, operated as a shuttle with four Line C trainsets.
T12 has interchanges with RER lines B and V at Massy-Palaiseau, Line C at Epinay-sur-Orge and Line D at Évry-Courcouronnes.
The €689m T12 project was funded by the Ile-de-France région (56%), the national government (30%), the Essonne département (10%) and SNCF (4%).
Construction of the tramway section was undertaken by a consortium of TSO, Terideal and Alstom.
Ile-de-France Mobilités funded a €165m order for 25 Alstom Citadis Dualis tram-trains. These are 42 m long and 2 650 mm wide with a capacity of 250 passengers, and have information screens, 36 USB ports, air-conditioning and CCTV. They operate in pairs.
The line is operated by the Transkeo T12-T13 joint venture of Keolis (51%) and SNCF Voyageurs (49%), which has 130 operating and maintenance staff and is responsible for maintaining the tramway section of T12. The depot and control centre are located at Massy.
Services initially run every 12 min in the peaks and every 30 min off-peak, with an increase to every 10 min in the peaks and 15 min off-peak planned. The end-to-end journey time is 40 min. There are distance-based fares, and Paris t+ tickets are not accepted.
An extension of T12 from Massy to Versailles-Chantiers has been proposed for the long-term future.
