RATP, ParisÂ’ metro operator, and ALSTOM
signed a contract on 20 October 2005 for
the delivery of 49 rubber-tyred automatic
metro trainsets with an option for 10
additional metro trainsets.
The order was concluded in the context of
the automatisation programme for line 1,
one of the most important line of Paris network
with 700.000 daily users, crossing the
city from west to east.
Line 1 will be the
second fully automated one in 2010, after
line 14, that has entered in service in 1998.
It is therefore scheduled to be the first time
in France, and indeed one of the first time
in the world that a regular subway line will
be turned into an automatic line.
€160
million infrastructure works will be necessary
to adapt platforms in the 25 stations and to
upgrade the signalling system, that had to
be done regardless of the automatisation.
The contract signed between Alstom and
RATP for the rolling stock amounts to €474
million. The first metros will be delivered
mid-June 2008, the last trains being
scheduled for the end of 2010, forecast
date for completion of the project.
Expected benefits are a better reliability, an
optimisation of interval between trains
(85 seconds vs. 105 currently), an increased
commercial speed (up to 30 km/h) and an
increased capacity of 25,000 passengers
per hour.