On December 15, 2019, Patrick bowed out. 40 years in service, 13 million and 478,014 km on the clock: the first TGV out of the Alstom factories in Belfort, a true legend in French rail, has broken many records. This is why the SNCF, and in particular the drivers, wanted to pay tribute to him.
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A farewell tour, baptized by SNCF "Au revoir Patrick", started with great fanfare on Wednesday 5 February, as evidenced by images captured during the event and disseminated on social networks.
The engine will visit several technicentres in the coming weeks. In a press release, the SNCF explains why Patrick and the first generation TGV trains are so symbolic and " without many equivalents in the French imagination ": " they convey pride, modernity, the pleasure of travel ". SNCF also celebrates the “great human adventure ” that these trains embodied: “ 2,000 people participated in the 100% French project, and thousands of others in engineering and in maintenance centers worked to maintain and modernize these oars and ensuring a very high level of safety, reliability and comfort on board until their last voyage. ”
To mark the occasion, Patrick has put on his original colors: the engines sport the emblematic bright orange, delighting his most loyal admirers on social networks. " The train has been repellicated in the colors of its historic liveries: original orange for the power cars, blue and carmillon for the cars, " specifies the SNCF.
A train that has gone down in history
Leaving the factory in July 1978, the TGV 01 train is the very first to have been put into circulation. After a test campaign, it runs for the first time on September 1 on the Paris-Sud-Est high-speed line, just completed. On September 22, 1981, François Mitterrand inaugurated the line, before opening to the public on September 27. A total of 109 first generation trains were manufactured and crisscrossed the entire French territory.
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Patrick, the pre-production train, also embodies the speed record train: " these trains have for the first time exceeded the commercial speed of 250km, going to 260, then 270, then 300 ", recalls the SNCF. The number 16 train even reached 380 km / h in 1981, breaking the world record. " Immense technological pride ", welcomes the SNCF.
Patrick's farewell tour will end on February 25. Will it then be exhibited, as some trains are, at the Cité du train in Mulhouse? " It is still too early to say, " said SNCF to Le Figaro . At first, " the train will certainly be stored at one of the Alstom sites, in Belfort or La Rochelle, " she adds. Otherwise, it will be recycling.
