The arrival of new trains on the RER B delayed by the crisis

RER B victim of coronavirus? At the end of the containment, it seems that this ultra-busy north-south line with its million daily passengers is indeed one of the victims of the crisis. The reason: two projects essential to its improvement risk being postponed by a year. The region's elected officials will address this thorny subject on Wednesday during the Ile-de-France Mobilités (IDFM) board of directors.

146 new trains awaiting orders

First victim: the new double-decker trains will probably not be operational before 2026. The tender procedure for these future RERs, whose code name is MING, has been underway since the end of 2018, and the market must have been spent this year with a manufacturer. It involves 146 new generation double-decker trains, air-conditioned and video-monitored, allowing circulation between cars (“boas” trains). Expected benefit: 20% to 30% more passenger capacity than current trains.

Because of the health crisis, the planning of the numerous works prior to the arrival of these new RERs must be reviewed (adaptation of the maintenance sites of Mitry and Massy), as well as the arrival of equipment. Hence the possible delay of a few months and a more likely entry into service in 2026 than in 2025. IDFM does not confirm and is still counting on a market launched at the end of 2020.

This news all the same raised the concern of the association SOS Users RER B Grand Paris, which denounces "an absolute disaster for the million daily users". Its president Julien Irondelle alerted elected officials in the sector and calls for mobilization to "save RER B on the brink of explosion".

The CA @IDFmobilites of Wednesday June 10, 2020 will announce the postponement of one year, that is June 2021, the order of the new #RERB trainsets. It is an absolute disaster for the 1 million daily users. @durovray @DumasFrederique @jfvigier @VillaniCedric @christianfavier

Autopilot on stand-by

These long-awaited new trains must go hand in hand with an entirely new operating system, which will equip the RERs and the tracks they use. Nexteo, that is its name, will make the RER almost automatic on equipped sections. This system, planned to be deployed on RER E as soon as it is extended to the west from 2022, must then be integrated into RER B and D.

This latest project is also behind schedule. Evaluated at 900 million euros, Nexteo should allow the RER to run automatically and at high speed, with later braking, to gain speed and capacity. "It's very complex, it's automatic metro on open SNCF tracks where freight trains also pass", summarizes a connoisseur of Nexteo.

NEXTEO signaling system to make the RER B and D circulation easier: SNCF and RATP present the deployment schedule below, with an invoice of 900 M €! pic.twitter.com/3HiOj2bIkx

But its usefulness for the more than 1.5 million RER B and D passengers is beyond doubt. However, the SNCF suspended the call for tenders for Nexteo, the market of which, however, is also planned for this year. An "inadmissible" decision according to Valérie Pécresse. The president (Libres!) Of the region and of IDFM wrote on May 15 to the president of SNCF Réseau to complain about it.

"The real subject is to stop CDG Express"

With, in sight, the CDG Express. Work on this direct and controversial line between Paris and Roissy airport has started well. Commissioning is scheduled for the end of 2025. Valérie Pécresse recalls having given her agreement to this line “under strict conditions” to preserve the schedule of other works for daily trains. A lack of engineers at SNCF, some of whom work on CDG Express, would prevent the completion of Nexteo in time.

“We give things that are impossible to do to SNCF Réseau. The real point is to stop CDG Express. It is better to favor the million daily travelers than the 20,000 CDG Express ”, insists Jacques Baudrier, PCF administrator of IDFM.

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On the SNCF Réseau side, the new CEO Luc Lallemand was satisfied last week in the Senate to recall that "the CDG Express project is a decided project with which we have an agreement with the State, and SNCF Réseau wishes to fulfill its contractual commitments" . Nexteo, it would be pushed back rather for technical reasons than financial.