Christening of the Eole tunnel boring machine in Courbevoie
A project of exceptional scale for daily trains
The digging of this 8 km tunnel in an urban area and at a distance of 35 m, which makes it the deepest railway tunnel in Île-de-France, is one of the feats of the Eole project.
With the modernisation of existing lines and the construction of three new stations, in Nanterre and under the Porte Maillot and CNIT districts in La Défense. The RER E, which currently departs from Chelles – Gournay and Tournan, east of Paris and terminates at Haussmann Saint-Lazare, will be extended by 55 km and will serve Porte Maillot, the La Défense district to connect Nanterre from 2022 and Mantes-la-Jolie in 2024.
A major step forward for travellers and regions
The future line E will be the most interconnected line in the Île-de-France region. It will be with all the RER (A, B, C and D), 10 of the 14 metro lines, 7 train lines, 5 tram lines, the future lines 15 and 16 of the Grand Paris Express, a hundred bus lines including those serving the three Parisian airports.
Thanks to these interconnections, travellers will have more choice in their travels. They will also benefit from new alternative routes in the event of disruptions to their usual route. For example, line E will be an optimal substitute for the central section of the RER A in the event of an incident.
Eole will benefit from a state-of-the-art operation, the NEXTEO operating system, with a significantly improved quality of service in normal situations and smoother and more responsive incident management.
A new generation of rolling stock
The future RER line E will be equipped with new-generation equipment 100% financed by Île-de-France Mobilité: the RER-NG, the future RER of Île-de-France.
Under the impetus of Valérie Pécresse, Île-de-France Mobilités has embarked on an ambitious policy to accelerate the renewal and renovation of trains with the aim of improving the regularity of the lines and the comfort of passengers in the Ile-de-France region. With more than 700 trains to be replaced or renovated between 2016 and the end of 2021, this is the largest modernisation programme for a train fleet ever carried out in such a short period of time in Europe.
Specially designed for the dense area, the future RER-NG will improve the regularity of the RER E extended to the west, as well as lines B and D. A major technological leap, these new high-capacity trains (1,860 passengers) will offer more comfort to users: real air conditioning, USB sockets, pleasant lighting, accessibility for people with reduced mobility and complete video protection. This new equipment has been the subject of close collaboration between Alstom, SNCF and Île-de-France Mobilités. It has spacious interchange platforms, a fully open architecture (without separation between the carriages) with spaces on one level at the ends of the train and others on two levels to facilitate the boarding and disembarkation of users, as well as their movement in the train.
As part of the extension of the RER E to the west, a contract for 130 trainsets has been signed for an investment of €1.8 billion, entirely financed by Île-de-France Mobilités. They will run as soon as they are commissioned to Nanterre-La-Folie in 2022. Once the entire program is completed, there are 255
The project at a glance
The project to extend the RER E to the west includes 14 stations for 55km of track, including an entirely new section between Saint-Lazare and Nanterre – La Folie (with the construction of 3 new stations) and then the resumption of the tracks of the Transilien line J between Nanterre and Mantes-La-Jolie, which will be thoroughly modernised for the occasion. Three departments are concerned: Paris, Hauts-de-Seine and Yvelines.
The project is led by Île-de-France Mobilités, which has entrusted the project management to SNCF Mobilités for the operation of transport services and SNCF Réseau for the transport infrastructure of the national rail network.
Financing is provided by 8 partners: the State, Île-de-France Mobilités, the Île-de-France Region, the Hauts-de-Seine and Yvelines department, Paris, the Société du Grand Paris and the SNCF for an amount of €3.80 billion for the infrastructure, and €1.8 billion for the rolling stock. The operation of the future line will be 100% financed by Île-de-France Mobilités.
55 km of new tracks are planned (47 of which have been renovated and redeveloped). The extension of the RER E will allow a 40-minute journey between Saint-Lazare and Mantes-la-Jolie. Nearly 620,000 daily passengers are expected at the start of service.