This follows the approval earlier this year of a financing agreement between Grand Est and the Council of Ministers of the German state of Saarland for the joint procurement of the trains. Saarland is contributing €7.14m.
Delivery of the new trains will start in 2022 and continue until 2024. This order follows on from a previous contract for 40 trains, of which 36 have already been delivered.
The cross-border trains will comprise 30 four-car sets. The trains will have diesel engines and will be dual voltage - 25kV ac and 15kV 16.66Hz - to enable them to operate on services linking eastern France with the German states of Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg.
The 160km/h trains will include first-class accommodation and space for bicycles. The trains will comply with the European Union’s Technical Specifications for Interoperability relating to Persons with Reduced Mobility (TSI PRM) which includes larger toilets to make them easier to use by passengers in wheelchairs. Delivery of the cross-border trains will start at the end of 2023.
The nine additional Coradia Polyvalent trains for domestic services will comprise five four-car and four six-car trains. These new trains will be the same as the trains already in operation in the Grand Est region.
Up to now, French National Railways (SNCF) has ordered 387 Coradia Polyvalent trains from Alstom as part of a framework contract awarded in October 2009 comprising 320 Coradia Polyvalent for Régiolis trains ordered by nine French regions and 67 Coradia Liner ordered by the French state.
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