It is an ordinary regional train like the users of the train in Occitania borrow them every day. It is even ten years old and has some signs of wear on its seats. But it left the SNCF Technicentre in Toulouse this Wednesday in unusual silence, powered only by its super-batteries.
This Régiolis train, the result of a technological partnership between the manufacturer Alstom and the SNCF, is quite simply the first hybrid regional train to run in France. Two of its four diesel engines have been replaced by “lithium-ion batteries”. They are recharged via the catenaries if the line is electrified or thanks to energy recovery during braking. And this “reserve” allows the train to switch to electric mode – therefore silent and carbon-free – on arrival at the station or when crossing inhabited areas.
Modifying trains rather than changing them
The hybrid train, equipped with a “laboratory car” has just completed a campaign of “conclusive” tests on the rails of Occitania, even on the “steep” route that leads from Toulouse to Rodez. Its autonomy remains the same as that of a normal train – around 1,000 kilometers – but it allows the use of 20% of energy. Moreover, at a time when the trains have a lifespan of around 40 years, this modification makes it possible not to wait for their replacement to put less polluting trains into service.
It remains for this prototype to pass the course of certification with the Public Railway Safety Establishment (EPSF) but the Occitanie region intends to embark passengers there from the end of 2023 on the Mazamet-Toulouse and Rodez- Toulouse. The “hybrid” train will leave in 2024 for New Aquitaine, Grand Est and Centre-Val-de-Loire, the three other regions that have contributed to its development.
Waiting for the hydrogen train
But the Occitans will remain at the forefront. The regional council, which wants to reduce the carbon emissions of its trains by 40% in a decade, has indeed chosen to bet on a “mix” of technological experiments. An all-electric LiO train is due to run at the end of 2024 on the NÎmes-Vauvert line. And at the end of 2025, the Luchon-Montréjeau line will be the very first in France fully covered by “hydrogen trains”.