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A round trip of 2 kilometres, driven manually, on the connecting track between the Champigny maintenance and storage site and the entrance to line 15 South: this is the distance covered by the 6 carriages of the very first train of the Grand Paris Express during the demonstration which took place at the end of November.
A few months after the delivery of the first MR6V train designed by Alstom, this event marks an important milestone for the Société du Grand Paris (SGP), which is in charge of building the new network. A delegation of institutional representatives and journalists were able to take part in the ride on board one of the trains that will make up the fleet on line 15 South when it enters service at the end of 2025.
The demonstration took place in the presence of Clément Beaune, Minister Delegate for Transport, and Valérie Pécresse, President of the Île-de-France Regional Council and Île-de-France Mobilités. On SYSTRA France’s side, Didier Traube, President of SYSTRA France, and Vincent Duguay, Director of Urban Projects, were also present to celebrate this milestone.
This is a major milestone for our client, SGP, and one on which we have been working for almost a year, in collaboration with the many players involved: contractors (rolling stock, maintenance and storage site, traction, track and catenary, etc.), and the various project management teams. For the general public this is the signal that the Grand Paris Express is moving forward and that the revolution announced is well and truly underway.
Didier Traube, President of SYSTRA France
Almost a year’s work for SYSTRA’s teams
SYSTRA accompanied the SGP, as part of its role as systems integrator and project manager for the automatic metro trains, in organising the very first on-site static and dynamic tests with the rolling stock. The maintenance and storage site at Champigny and the connecting track were gradually converted from a works configuration to a test configuration in order to accommodate this demonstration of the first rolling stock. In particular, the SYSTRA team provided advice to the SGP to enable it to give the green light for the safe passage into the ‘red zone’.
A first zone was defined to allow the trainset to be reassembled and static tests to be carried out, followed by a second zone for the trainset to travel from the maintenance and storage site into the tunnel connecting to the future line 15 South. These two ‘red zones’ had to be separated from the areas still under construction. We had to draw up a set of operating rules to make all the people who would be working in or around this zone aware of the risks involved.
Adrien Lebrun, head of tests for line 15 South, ISG (Global System Integration)
A lengthy story in which SYSTRA has been involved since the very beginning. Testing of the trains themselve began more than a year and a half ago!
Photo credits: Société du Grand Paris