Line B of the RER has experienced two derailments in two years, and is experiencing punctuality rates still far from contractual objectives. For user associations, the account is not there. Even though modernization works are underway and refurbished trains are about to be delivered.
A derailment in 2018, another two years later … Could the RER B be the object of a curse? Or is this line, long neglected by the public authorities, now paying the ransom for years of neglect? The fact is that in 2020, it continues to tense up user associations who do not hesitate to award it the title of worst line in the Ile-de-France network.
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In June 2018, in the Chevreuse valley, it was torrential spring rains that caused a whole part of the embankment to collapse under the railway track. The result: a train overturned in an accident that injured seven people. On June 24, 2020, the derailment of a train on the outskirts of Denfert-Rochereau will not cause any injuries, but will cause major disturbances for several days. “Before confinement, this line counted a million travelers“, Explain Marie-Hélène Wittersheim, president of the COURB association, which brings together users from the south of the line. “However, we are still using single-level trainsets with a significant delay in maintenance and renewal.“
The RER MING market, before the end of the year
These trainsets must be the subject of a vast renewal, with the arrival of the RER MING (for “new generation interconnection equipment”), by 2025. Double-decker cars that would be a game-changer for users . But the award of the contract is long overdue, hence the concern of users and some elected officials.
“The RER MING will change everything, since it will be much more punctual, and much more comfort.”
Asked about the subject in Paris, on France 3 Paris Île-de-France, Valerie Pécresse, President (Free!) Of Île-de-France mobilités, confirms that these trains will be ordered before the end of 2020. This new RER “will change everything, since it will be much more punctuality, and much more comfort“, affirms the President of the Regional Council.
“We are really waiting for this order for new trains. We know that on the RER A, this is what had changed the situation.”
“We are really waiting for this order for new trains“, entrusts Arnaud bertrand, President of the users association “Plus de trains”. “We know that on the RER A, that’s what changed the situation“of modernization.
By 2025, “groomed” single-level trains will return to the Paris region: 31 refurbished MI84 trainsets will be delivered (two years late), the first of which should arrive in the next few days.
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Punctuality and disruption, black dots on the line
Punctuality, disruptions … This is the great grievance of user associations with regard to operators, RATP and SNCF, in charge of operating the 80 kilometers of the line. If the year 2007 had 89 disturbed days, the year 2019 had 172. This is a lot for this line, the second busiest in Île-de-France.
On the punctuality side, it has certainly improved on the line: 89.1% of travelers arrived on time in 2019, vs 81.5% in 2010. Figures, however, far from the contractual objective agreed with the organizing authority of Île-de-France mobility transport. These difficulties are not unrelated to aging infrastructures. The track owners, RATP and SNCF Réseau have also started major modernization work, such as the renewal of the rails and ballast, on 12 kilometers of line between Aulnay and Roissy.
[TRAVAUX] ▶ ️ RGB (Track & Ballast Renewal) work in Blanc-Mesnil? It’s night, on the tracks of the @RERB, and it’s on video here ▶ ️ @SNCFReseau @SrzdI pic.twitter.com/EppB5Uw5Y5
– RER B (@RERB) September 15, 2020
Turnaround lanes at Le Bourget and Orsay are also under construction. These infrastructures must absorb part of the delays in the event of disruptions, by allowing a train to turn around.
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Only here, again bad luck for the RER B. The Covid epidemic and the confinement delayed the work of the Orsay reversal drawer, in the Chevreuse valley. The book, which was to be delivered in September 2020, will not be for another year. This will not improve punctuality on the south of the line.
The best Nexto system for 2025
Another strong expectation of users and elected officials: the automatic signaling system Nexteo, supposed to equip the RER B in 2025. The announcement of the postponement of the call for tenders by SNCF Réseau provoked the ire of Valérie Pécresse. Summoned during the summer by Île-de-France mobilités, the managers of the rail network have undertaken to publish it by the end of 2020. The president of IDFM confirms here again that the call for tenders will have gone well. ‘by the end of the year.
A vital project for line B, observe Marie-Hélène Wittersheim : “Each interconnection with the Grand Paris Express generates 30% more traffic on the line.“Hence the need to improve signage, particularly in the RER B-RER D shared tunnel between Châtelet and Gare du Nord. But commissioning is not planned … before 2025.
