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Line A: a priority
Line A is the oldest line in the RER network, its first section having been opened in December 1969.
It links the residential areas of eastern Paris to the employment centres in the west. Passenger numbers are constantly on the increase. The number of days on which more than a million passengers used the line rose from 7 in 2003 to 151 in 2009.
RATP has devised an action plan to increase the reliability of a line which is often saturated, and to anticipate future increases in traffic by harnessing additional human and material resources, reinforcing preventive and night-time maintenance, modernising infrastructures and renewing rolling stock. This strategy should, among other things:
- Reduce the time trains spend in the stations
- Reduce the number of incidents
- Improve maintenance times
- Increase the line’s capacity.
New, high-capacity trains
Line A’s capacity will be significantly increased by the introduction of new MI09 double-decker trains.
On 8 February, 2011, RATP proudly presented the MI09 train, of which 30 units (60 trains) were ordered, worth a total of €917 million, two thirds of which was funded from the RATP’s investment budget and one third by STIF. These thirty MI09 trains will enter into service from autumn of 2011 onwards, with one new train being introduced each month.
The MI09s offer 54% more capacity than the old, single-decker MI84s they are replacing. They also have very wide doors (2 metres) to facilitate passenger boarding and alighting.
70 additional units could be delivered between 2014 and 2017, bringing total investment to €1.75 billion and eventually increasing capacity by 30%
The RER A
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