FRANCE: The first of the CAF-built inter-city EMUs being supplied to SNCF Voyageurs for use on conventional inter-city services linking Paris with Toulouse and Clermont-Ferrand has been sent for testing in the Czech Republic.
The trains are being moved from CAF’s production site at Beasain in Spain to the Velim test centre, crossing into France at Hendaye.
The trains were ordered by SNCF in October 2019; an initial batch of 28 EMUs is being delivered under a €700m contract, and the French national operator has options to order up to 75 more.
Initially branded Confort 200 but now to be known as Oxygène, the 10-car non-tilting EMUs will be used to replace life-expired Corail loco-hauled formations on the routes between Paris and the cities of Clermont-Ferrand and Toulouse via Limoges.
In common with other recent train designs built for inter-city and longer-distance regional services such as Alstom’s Coradia Liner and Bombardier’s Regio 2N, the CAF trains are articulated.
The dual-system trains will be able to operate at up to 200 km/h on routes electrified at both 25 kV 50 Hz and 1·5 kV DC. Entry into service is expected in 2025..
In a change to earlier plans, the first seven trains are being built in Spain. The remaining 21 are expected to be assembled at CAF’s Reichshoffen plant in eastern France, where production is due to start in September and run until late 2026.
A comprehensive description of the Confort 200 design and related route enhancement projects appeared in the January 2021 issue of Railway Gazette International.
