FRANCE: The Paris metro network’s second busiest line has been fully converted to Grade of Automation 4 unattended operation, following a period when driver-operated trains ran alongside automated trains.
Speaking at an event on January 19 to mark the completion of the €480m Line 4 automation project, RATP CEO Jean Castex said it had been more challenging than the conversion of Line 1 in 2012. However, the operator’s knowledge of how to automate metro lines without major disruption was ‘unique in the world’.
Line 4 runs for 14 km from Porte de Clignancourt in the north to Bagneux-Lucie-Aubrac in the south, and carries 700 000 passengers/day. It is the only line in Paris that interchanges with all other metro and RER routes.
RATP and transport authority Ile-de-France-Mobilités decided in 2013 to convert Line 4 to GoA4, in order to improve service quality and reliability. In 2015 Siemens Mobility was awarded a contract to supply its Trainguard CBTC. Platform edge screens incorporating passenger information systems have since been installed at the 29 stations, and management of the line was transferred to a new control centre in 2020.
One biggest challenges for the project was the line’s fleet, which was comprised of three different types of rubber-tyred wide-bodied six-car trainsets supplied by Alstom. There are 21 MP89CA and 11 MP05 sets plus 20 new MP14CA trains. The CBTC must adapt its commands to suit the specific type of rolling stock.
Dynamic testing of automated operation began in 2022, and in September of that year four GoA4 trainsets designated ‘shuttle’ by RATP were put into automated service. Weekend and evening services went fully automatic in May 2023, and the last manual driving ended in December 2023.
The new train control system allows for a minimum headway of 85 sec, although in normal service trains run every 105 sec at peak times.
Further automation
Line 13 will be the next to be converted to fully automated operation. This will pose new challenges, as it has branches and is operated with steel-wheeled trains.
Expressions of interest for the project were invited in December 2023, and a call for tenders to supply the automation technology and control centre is planned for February.
The plans envisage that manually-driven Alstom MF19 trains will be introduced from 2027 to replace the current MF77 fleet. The fitting of additional platform edge screens will be undertaken in 2028, paving the way for full automation in 2032.
Castex has also proposed that the planned modernisation of lines 7 and 8 should include automation at GoA4 rather than the current attended ATO to GoA2. He explained to Metro Report International that these lines should be the next to be automated because of their length, the age of their MF77 trainsets, their heavy usage and difficulties recruiting drivers.
