“Heading towards the west”
, rejoice the project leaders, while the extension of the RER E to the new Nanterre-la-Folie station (Hauts-de-Seine) is due to be inaugurated on Friday May 3, and open to the public
“a few days later”
on Monday May 6, SNCF Voyageurs confirmed this Thursday. No less than two long years late. A first symbolic step for this line which today connects the towns of Tournan and Chelles to Gare Saint-Lazare, and which must, by 2026, continue its journey to Mantes-La-Jolie (Yvelines).
Promised for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, although presented as “non-essential” to the transport of visitors during the event, this extension will still serve three new stations: Porte Maillot, La Défense and Nanterre. For a travel time between Saint-Lazare and Nanterre of 12 minutes, and in 2026, between Nanterre and Mantes-la-Jolie of 37 minutes compared to 57 minutes today.
“In off-peak hours” initially
The first RERs will begin to run during off-peak hours (10 a.m.-4 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m.-8 p.m. on weekends), with four trains per hour between Magenta and Nanterre-La-Folie. The line should finally reach its normal rate at the end of 2024, while 34 “new generation” (NG) trains complete their running-in.
During the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the offer will be reinforced all day long, departing from Porte Maillot, west of Paris. Line E serves several Olympic sites including the La Défense Arena and the Vaires-sur-Marne nautical stadium.
“New generation” trains already deployed
In addition, Île-de-France Mobilités (IDFM) announced this Wednesday the order for 35 additional trains from Alstom to equip this line. This order, worth 650 million euros excluding taxes,
“aims to anticipate and ensure the offer for the extension of the line to Mantes-la-Jolie at the end of 2026”
, indicates IDFM in a press release.
Commissioned on line E last November, these 14
“new generation”
(NG) RERs
“complement the new trains already in circulation, including the 360 Ile-de-France trains and the Régio2N on the lines in Île-de-France”
, welcomes IDFM. This new train, intended to improve punctuality and passenger comfort, must replace all RERs in circulation on lines D and E by 2028. Within a few years, it will be equipped with the NExTEO system: a tool for automation of piloting which will allow, according to IDFM,
“to improve punctuality and performance”
.