THE Hauts-de-France region has selected SNCF Passenger to operate a major group of TER regional services, including trains serving Paris Gare du Nord and Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airport. The contract is worth just over €3bn and is one of the biggest of its type granted since France began awarding operations contracts.
The contract will run for nine years following an 18-month interim period that will commence in December 2027 when the new Roissy-Picardie link opens. The 6.5km line will provide a direct connection from the Picardy region to the airport.
Existing TER services serve 70 stations and carry around 70,000 passengers a day, or 45% of the regional total. The contract’s objective is to raise passenger-km by 14% by 2037 - a rather modest aim given that the new line to Roissy should attract significant traffic and that the region has just increased the size of its fleet from 70 to 103 trains.
The current fleet consists of 26 Régiolis four-car bi-mode trains, which operate services from Paris to Calais and Laon, plus 77 mainly 10-car Régio 2N and Omneo Premium double-deck EMUs.
SNCF Voyageurs will create a dedicated subsidiary to operate these services with a staff of almost 1200. Routes concerned are:
- Paris - Beauvais
- Paris - Creil - Amiens
- Paris - Amiens - Boulogne - Calais
- Paris - Amiens - Lille
- Paris - Saint Quentin - Cambrai/Maubeuge
- Paris - Laon
and from December 2028:
- Roissy - Compiègne - Saint Quentin
- Roissy - Amiens.
