FRANCE: Testing of the first Alstom Coradia Liner inter-city electro-diesel multiple unit has begun on the Paris Est – Troyes – Belfort line.
SNCF awarded Alstom a €346m contract in October 2013 covering the supply 34 six-car Coradia Liner multiple-units to replace locomotive-hauled stock on trains d'équilibre du territoire inter-city services on the conventional network which cannot be operated throughout by electric traction.
Alstom’s Cordia Liner V200 is based on its Régiolis family of regional multiple-units for France, but has a more comfortable interior designed for longer distance travel. It can operate at up to 160 km/h under 25 kV 50 Hz or 1·5 kV DC electrification, or powered by roof-mounted 350 kW MAN diesel engines.
The first six of 19 units for the Paris – Belfort route are now expected to enter passenger service in mid-2017. Other routes which SNCF expects to operate with Coradia Liner units include Nantes – Bordeaux.
