PARIS public transport authority Île-de-France Mobility (IdFM) has awarded the first contract to be tendered for operating a commuter line to incumbent SNCF Passenger. The contract covers Line L, running from Paris Saint-Lazare to Versailles Rive Droite, Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche and Cergy-le-Haut to the west of the French capital.
The 76km Line L serves 36 stations and is operated with a staff of 800. Commercial operations in 2025 totalled 4.2 million train-km, or 6.5% of the total on the Transilien commuter network operated by SNCF Passenger. With 560 services operated every working day, Line L carried 297,000 passengers a day in 2025, 8.7% of the Transilien total.
SNCF Passenger says that over the last 10 years it has improved train punctuality on Line L by 10 percentage points, with punctuality currently standing at around 95%.
The new contract covering operations, fleet maintenance and customer service will start with the timetable change in December 2026, running until October 12 2035. There are two one-year extension options.
Line L will be operated by a new SNCF Passenger subsidiary, SNCF Voyageurs Coeur Ouest IDF, which will start work following an 18-month mobilisation period which begins when the contract is signed.
“SNCF Passenger is very proud to have won the first line to be opened up to competition in the Île-de-France region,” says SNCF Passenger CEO, Christophe Fanichet.
“The confidence shown in us is a sign of capacity to reinvent ourselves and succeed in a world open to competition.”
