ITALIAN State Railways (FS) subsidiary Trenitalia France is to build a new depot in the southern suburbs of Paris to maintain its fleet of Frecciarossa high-speed trains, which it says will support the operation of future services from Paris to London via the Channel Tunnel as well as maintaining trains currently operating from Paris to Lyon, Marseille, Turin and Milan.
Trenitalia France has signed a 35-year lease with infrastructure manager SNCF Network for a site at Maisons Alfort-Pompadour, south of Paris Lyon station on the conventional main line to Lyon. Able to accommodate up to 25 trains and operating around the clock, the new depot will have three maintenance tracks, as well as dedicated train washing and cleaning facilities.
The new depot will be operational by the end of 2029, according to Trenitalia, and total investment in the project will exceed €80m. Construction and operation of the new facility is expected to create 100 new jobs.
“The new maintenance hub represents strategic infrastructure that will drive the growth of Trenitalia's activities in France, and will support future high-speed connections between Paris and London with the objective of making trains increasingly central to the European sustainable mobility landscape,” says FS CEO and general manager, Stefano Antonio Donnarumma.
