RATP's monopoly on metros in Ile-de-France is soon over. The current network will not be opened to competition before 2030, but it is first on the Grand Paris Express side that the incumbent will face ambitious rivals. The competition to run this brand new automatic metro from 2024 begins today. And the RATP has decided to take the lead.
This Thursday, the public service announced the creation of a new private company, grouping its subsidiary RATP Dev, majority, the French manufacturer Alstom and the Singapore transport company ComfortDelGro Transit.
A consortium which "will allow us to present the best possible dossier for this challenge that is the Grand Paris Express, for which we are extremely ambitious", underlined Catherine Guillouard, CEO of RATP.
More than 330,000 travelers per day
It is today that Ile-de-France Mobilités, the organizing authority for transport in the region, received the "prequalification" files to run lines 16 and 17 of the future metro.
Currently under construction north of Paris, these two lines will link Saint-Denis Pleyel to Clichy-Montfermeil on the one hand (Line 16) and to Mesnil-Amelot via Roissy on the other (Line 17), with a common section of Pleyel at Le Bourget.
Or about fifty kilometers of tunnels, which will respectively accommodate 200,000 (line 16) and 130,000 to 160,000 trips per day (line 17). The first sections, serving the future Olympic sites, are expected to enter service in 2024, for the Olympic Games. But this calendar seems difficult to keep, even more since the health crisis which slowed down construction sites.
RATP wins first point with this alliance
Regardless, the metro will be done in spite of technical uncertainties, and Catherine Guillouard already announces that the RATP "will respond to all calls for tenders for the metro in Ile-de-France". If the competition will be tough, the RATP has won a first point with this alliance with Alstom.
In 2018, the French manufacturer obtained the manufacturing market for the 183 metros on lines 15, 16 and 17. Entrusting it with maintenance in addition could be an advantage when choosing the operator. “The contracts are completely separate, defends Catherine Guillouard. And Alstom has no particular interest in this or that operator, nothing prevented competition from doing the same. "
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VIDEO. Traveling on the future metro line 15 South
As for ComfortDelGro Transit, it operates two out of five metro lines in Singapore and is also present in London, Australia and China. "It is a company with an excellent reputation, focused on customer service, cleanliness, cleaning and innovations," said Laurence Battle, director of RATP Dev. Our consortium brings together the expertise of the three players, who have a great habit of automatic metros in the world ”.
Keolis in ambush, decision by 2022
Opposite, Keolis, a subsidiary of the SNCF and another specialist in automatic metro around the world, who has never hidden his interest in Greater Paris, should be a candidate.
The third French group, Transdev, on the other hand threw in the towel, "despite a strong interest", in particular because of a "too short contract duration" (6 years, note) and "the impact of the Covid ". Foreign applicants may also come forward.
After these "prequalifications", Ile-de-France Mobilités will launch a formal tender at the end of the year, before selecting the winner in late 2021 or early 2022.
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