SNCF on Tuesday signed a contract of nearly 180 million euros with the New Aquitaine region to renovate 62 regional trains at mid-life between 2024 and 2030.
The renovation and modernization of these 62 AGCs (high-capacity self-propelled vehicles, built by Bombardier Transport) will be entrusted to the Périgueux technicentre, the two parties said.
Read also: SNCF will renovate 166 TER Grand Est after winning a contract worth 584 million euros
The “
mid-life operation
” consists in completely dismantling, overhauling and renovating the trains after about twenty years of operation, in order to put them back on the rails in almost new condition for another fifteen to twenty years.
SNCF estimates that 931 trains - or 40% of the TER fleet - will be affected in the next ten years by such a program, which requires the immobilization of the trains for ten to twenty weeks.
If it still operates all the TER while awaiting the opening to competition, the SNCF does not own the trains and the regions can choose which manufacturer will renovate them.
The public group recently signed a large agreement of 584 million euros with the Grand Est for the renovation of 166 TER and another more modest with Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur for 23 trains.
New trainsets tested in five regions
On the same AGC equipment, Nouvelle Aquitaine is one of the five regions -with Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Hauts de France, Occitanie and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur- which will test the transformation of dual-mode diesel trainsets- battery-electric electric, by replacing the diesel engines with batteries which will be used on non-electrified lines, with a range of 80 km.
Tests will be conducted in 2023 and such a change in engine could be generalized in the event of success on AGC trainsets during their mid-life renovation, according to a press release.