THE French National Assembly approved plans to develop Metropolitan Regional Express Service (Serm) networks in provincial cities on December 19.
In November 2022, the French president, Mr Emanuel Macron, relaunched the idea of developing Serm networks in 10 major cities. The idea gained momentum in February when the prime minister, Ms Élisabeth Borne, confirmed the concept following a report from the Infrastructure Orientation Council and the presentation of a rail development plan endowed with €100bn up to 2040.
Serm projects will primarily be aimed at improving urban rail networks to offer a high level of service with one ticket covering different modes of transport. Stations will be adapted to provide multimodal hubs. Serm networks may also include river transport, car pooling and car sharing.
Around 15 projects are already at various stages of development and more are expected.
The government also confirmed that Société de Grand Paris, the public body developing the automated metro network in the Paris region, will be renamed Société des Grands Projets and will be given the task of helping regional government to develop and implement their Serm plans.
Three days earlier, French National Railways (SNCF) issued a call for tenders for up to 150 1.5kV dc/25kV ac EMUs to be supplied during the next 10 years for several Serm networks. The tender includes various options such as versions for:
- operation into Switzerland under 15kV 16.7Hz electrification
- 200km/h operation
- high density duties
- equipped with a battery pack to power heating or air-conditioning during failures of the overhead supply, and
- prepared for automatic train operation.
Over the past decade, SNCF and the French regions have been ordering Alstom’s Regio 2N mixed double/single-deck EMU design for this type of service. There are now 400 Regio 2Ns and the inter-city version of the design known as Omneo in service.
