What are Jean Castex, Valérie Pécresse and Clément Beaune doing in a wagon? They are inaugurating the new trains on line 11. Don’t be kidding, the three personalities were indeed present this Thursday morning at the Mairie des Lilas station for the delivery of the first new generation trains.
Quieter, longer and more energy efficient than their predecessors, the MP59s, these MP14s are part of the modernization of the whole of line 11, in the same way as the future extension to Rosny-sous-Bois, announced for spring 2024.
More spaces, more traffic
These trains have five cars in one piece, compared to four separate currently, an increase in capacity of at least 25% per train. According to the RATP, these trains will be able to accommodate up to 562 passengers.
These are not the only developments since these trains would also be more resistant and would require up to 30% less maintenance. This would lead to greater traffic fluidity according to Jean Castex, Chairman and CEO of the RATP: “We will reduce the time between two metros during rush hour. From two minutes currently, when all the trains are changed, we hope to increase to 105 seconds between each train. »
At the rate of three to four trains per week, Île-de-France Mobilités and the RATP hope to see the 23 MP59s, which are 60 years old, replaced by 20 MP14s by the end of July, according to Pierre Florent , director of the Line 11 transformation and modernization project.
Screens to display useful information
“It’s a big day for line 11, it’s going to be day and night,” enthused the president of Ile-de-France Mobilités, Valérie Pécresse, before cutting the inaugural ribbon of the new metro.
Passengers will also note the refreshments that have been made for their comfort since, in addition to the 40% reduction in noise emissions, the new trains offer screens which inform passengers of their position in the train and the position on the platforms of the various exits. and future connection in the next station. Other additional information such as the line map and traffic status are also included.
Fans of Valérie Damidot will also note that the seats with multicolored streaks give way to gray, red and blue seats. Users of lines 4 and 14 already know these trains since they are cousins, except that line 11 is not yet automated.
Last step before the extension of the line
These new trains represent “a necessary first step to bring the extension into service” of the line according to Pierre Florent. Indeed, six stations will soon be open to the east of the line to open 6 new kilometers of service to the future Rosny-Bois-Perrier terminus, in Rosny-sous-Bois (93). This extension should increase the line’s attendance from 130,000 daily passengers to 200,000. An increase which will be followed by the delivery of 19 new trains to come, bringing their total number to 39.
A 1.3 billion euro project financed by the State, the Region, the Société du Grand Paris, the Departmental Council of Seine-Saint-Denis, the RATP and the City of Paris. Question financing, Valérie Pécresse, took the opportunity to slip a word to Clément Beaune, Minister Delegate for Transport to ask for more aid from the State, otherwise, the extensions and openings of lines to come “could not be done” . His battle horse for several months.
She is joined in her fight by the group Left Communist Ecologist and Citizen of the Regional Council, which, by means of a press release published on June 7, requests greater investments from the State within the framework of the negotiations for the mobility component. 2023-2027 State-Region Plan Contracts (CPER).