FRANCE: The government has called for expressions of interest in contracts to supply locomotives and coaches to renew the national night train fleet.
French night trains carried 950 000 passengers in 2024, a 23% increase on the previous year, according to Pierre-Christophe Soncarrieu, deputy director of the transport ministry’s Trains d’Équilibre du Territoire division.
However, the existing fleet of 129 refurbished coaches is approaching the end of its life and needs to be replaced.
Expressions of interest are sought from companies which could finance new vehicles, order them from the manufacturers and then lease them to the state. The ministry would then make them available to the future operator(s) which are to be selected through a tendering process.
Contracts could be finalised in Q3 2026, and Soncarrieu said the new fleet could enter service from 2030. The leases would run for 15 years from the date of the stock being available for service, and could be extended by up to a further three years.
One call worth an estimated €1·8bn covers the design and supply of 26·4 m long coaches meeting the UIC-Z standard. Accommodation would include reclining seats, couchette-style compartments for families or groups, individual pods for single travellers, two-berth sleeping compartments with washing facilities and luxury two-berth compartments with a private shower and toilet. Each rake would have one coach of each type, and there would be berths for wheelchair users, as well as eight cycle spaces with electric charging points in each train.
Soncarrieu said ’the state wants to provide travellers with a wider range of comfort options’.
There would be a base order for 180 coaches and options for a further 160 in lots of 40 each.
A separate call covers locomotives and is worth an estimated €500m. Subject to the detailed proposals from potential suppliers, it is envisaged that there would be a base order for 27 electro-diesel locos, with four options to supply up to 15 more.
Further details of the requirements will be confirmed once expressions of interest are received.
