RER - Trains

Trains

The predominance of suburban SNCF track on the RER network explains why RER trains use overhead line power and run on the left, like SNCF trains (except in Alsace-Moselle), contrary to the Métro where trains use third rail power and run on the right. RER trains run by the two different operators share the same track infrastructure, a practice called interconnection. On the RER, interconnection required the development of specific trains (MI 79 series for Materiel d'Interconnexion 1979, and MI 2N series for Materiel d'Interconnexion à 2 niveaux (double-deck interconnection stock)) capable of operating under both 1.5 kV direct current on the RATP network and 25 kV / 50 Hz alternating current on the SNCF network. The MS 61 series (Matériel Suburbain 1961) can be used only on the 1.5 kV DC network.

The RER's tunnels have unusually large cross-sections. This is due to a 1961 decision to build according to a standard set by the Union Internationale des Chemins de Fer, with space for overhead catenary power supply to trains. Single-track tunnels measure 6.30 m across and double-track tunnels up to 8.70 m, meaning a cross-sectional area of up to 50 square metres, larger than that of the stations on many comparable underground rail networks.

The first RER rolling stock in fact predated the formation of the RER by 40 years, with the Z 23000 stock used on the ligne de Sceaux (which was subsequently integrated into RER B) from 1937 until February 27, 1987. In 1965 the Z 5300 train was introduced, followed by the MS 61 in 1967 (refurbished 1985-1987 and 2006-2009), MS 79 in 1980, MS 84 and Z 8800 in 1985, Z 20500 in 1998, MI 2N in 1996, Z 20900 in 2001 and MI 09 on December 5, 2011.

  • MS 61 (original version, type A/B) at Rueil-Malmaison

  • MS 61 (later version, type C/D) at Champigny

  • MS 61 (later version, type E/Ex) at Rueil-Malmaison

  • MS 61 (refurbished 2006-2009) at Boissy-Saint-Léger

  • MI 79 at Gare du Nord

  • MI 84 at Gare de Poissy

  • MI 2N at Gare d'Achères-Ville

  • MI 09

  • Z 5300

  • Z 5600 approaching Lardy

  • Z 8800

  • Z 20500 approaching Le Mée-sur-Seine

  • Z 20900 at Gare du Nord

  • Z 22500 at Gare de Chelles - Gournay

  • Historic Z 23000 stock on line B (ligne de Sceaux), June 1982

Read more about this topic:  RER

Famous quotes containing the word trains:

    Every American travelling in England gets his own individual sport out of the toy passenger and freight trains and the tiny locomotives, with their faint, indignant, tiny whistle. Especially in western England one wonders how the business of a nation can possibly be carried on by means so insufficient.
    Willa Cather (1876–1947)

    The complaint ... about modern steel furniture, modern glass houses, modern red bars and modern streamlined trains and cars is that all these objets modernes, while adequate and amusing in themselves, tend to make the people who use them look dated. It is an honest criticism. The human race has done nothing much about changing its own appearance to conform to the form and texture of its appurtenances.
    —E.B. (Elwyn Brooks)

    In this country, you never pull the emergency brake, even when there is an emergency. It is imperative that the trains run on schedule.
    Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–1990)