FRANCE: Paris transport operator RATP has announced a major investment programme for 2025-29, with spending to increase from €1·9bn to €2·5bn a year.
CEO Jean Castex said developing a culture of automation is one of the main priorities, along with greater standardisation. There will be an increase in outsourcing, which is new to RATP’s culture and it expects its suppliers to share its ambitions and to deliver on time.
Rolling stock comprises a major part of the investment plan. Alstom’s Crespin plant has contracts to deliver MF19 trainsets for lines 3, 3bis, 7, 7bis, 8, 12 and 13, and a follow-on order for 44 five-car trainsets for Line 10 is expected in 2024. Alstom’s La Rochelle plant will supply 37 TW20 trams for T1, and the company will work in partnership with CAF to supply 146 MI20 trains for RER Line B.
Sylvie Buglioni, head of Technical & Industrial at RATP, told Metro Report International that tenders will be called by December 2023 for the deployment of the Octys train control system on metro lines 7, 8 and 12. This will be similar to systems fitted on lines 3, 6 and 11.
Tenders will be called in December for the automation of metro Line 13. Existing platform edge screens will be retained, and more installed. No decision has been taken on whether to modify the MF19 trains from GoA2 semi-automatic to GoA4 unattended operation, or whether to order new trains equipped for GoA4.
Tenders will be called next year for a new control centre covering lines 2, 6, 7, 8 and 10.
A contract for the deployment of the NExTEO communications-based train control system on RER lines B and D will be awarded in September in partnership with SNCF Réseau.
New metro maintenance trains will also be ordered to increase track renewal rates.
