FRENCH National Railways (SNCF) subsidiary SNCF Passenger has signed a 10-year contract worth €1.8bn with the Sud region, also known as Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (PACA), to operate Lot 3 of the region’s TER network.
The contract was signed in Marseille on May 6 in the presence of Sud region president, Renaud Muselier; vice-president responsible for transport, Jean-Pierre Serrus; SNCF CEO, Jean Castex; and SNCF Passenger CEO, Christophe Fanichet.
From December 2029 a new local SNCF Passenger subsidiary will operate the following lines:
- Marseille - Aubagne - Toulon - Hyères
- Marseille - Toulon - Les Arcs-Draguignan
- Marseille - Aix-en-Provence - Pertuis
- Marseille - Gap - Briançon, and
- Briançon - Gap - Valence - Romans.
The new contract will see the number of services operated increase by 30%, growing progressively as demand requires.
A new express service will be introduced on the non-electrified line between Marseille and Briançon in 2030 when the French Alps hosts the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, cutting the journey time from 4h 50min to 3h 40min. This will be made possible by infrastructure upgrades funded by the region, including track renewals on 120km and installing new passing loops on this mainly single-track line.
To operate services from Marseille to Hyères and Les Arcs-Draguignan, SNCF Passenger will deploy 22 new Régiolis EMUs ordered from CAF last year for €250m. The new fleet is being funded by the region, which will also invest €46m to upgrade the depot at La Blancarde in Marseille and build a new rolling stock maintenance facility in Briançon.
“By opening up the network to competition in 2016, we made a bold and effective choice,” says Muselier. “The results speak for themselves: 82% of residents approve of this initiative, ridership is growing, and service quality is improving.”
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