A train from line B of the Rennes metro, September 19, 2022, the day before its official launch (AFP/Archives/Damien MEYER)
The mayor of Rennes, Nathalie Appéré, announced Monday the resumption “mid-June” of metro B traffic, which broke down a year and a half after it was put into service and was stopped since January 3 due to a defective part.
“With certainty”, there will be “18 trains in mid-June” ready to run, out of a total of 25 trains, Ms. Appéré said at a press conference.
The mayor, however, refused to give a precise date for the resumption of traffic, because, she said, the Technical Service for Ski Lifts and Guided Transport (STRMTG), a state body, must first issue an opinion, followed by a prefectural decree.
As soon as these two conditions are met, it will only be “a matter of a few hours” before traffic on this fully automated metro line, which carried up to 115,000 travelers per day, resumes, said Ms. Appéré.
The mayor of Rennes, Nathalie Appéré, during a ceremony on the eve of the launch of metro line B, September 19, 2022 (AFP/Archives/Damien MEYER)
Less than a year and a half after its entry into service, the Cityval, deployed by the German railway manufacturer Siemens Mobility, had experienced two major breakdowns in less than two months, the first in mid-November 2023 and the second in early January. It was then shut down completely on January 3.
The breakdown was due to a defect in a mechanical part located on a bogie, the carriage on which the axles are fixed and which provides the interface between the train and the track.
Traffic for the month of June is estimated between 80,000 and 90,000 travelers per day – due in particular to the end of the university year -, and the 18 trains in circulation will therefore be “sufficient” for this flow, assured Ronan Kerloc’h , general director of Keolis Rennes, manager of the Rennes metropolitan network.
“The moment of truth will be at the start of the school year”, when the number of passengers returns to normal and all 25 trains have been put back into circulation, judged Ms Appéré, saying she was “confident”.
In total, one hundred bogies must be replaced on the 25 trains of line B.
“Seven trains have already been finalized and are currently following a control and test protocol” on the tracks of line B, reported Mr. Kerloc’h. “Trains began to run empty”, without passengers. “We will be ready (…) by mid-June,” he promised.
© 2024 AFP
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