SNCF orders Citadis Dualis

SNCF, France’s national railway company, has placed an order worth €100m with Alstom for 31 Citadis Dualis suburban tram-trains.

Twenty-four of the trainsets are destined for the Rhône-Alpes region and seven will be used in the Pays-de-la-Loire region. The order includes a conditional option worth €550m for 169 trainsets that would be supplied to the regions of Alsace and Ile-deFrance.

According to Alstom, this order is a world first for the Dualis model of tram-train. Designed to meet the need for greater fluidity between urban and suburban transport, Dualis operates the link between a city’s centre and its suburbs, without the need for off-loading, by reconciling the advantages of the train and the tramway.

Based on Alstom’s Citadis tramway, the Dualis version employs the fundamental elements that have contributed to that model’s success: modularity, accessibility, and reliability. Dualis, however, is capable of operating on a tramway network and regional rail network thanks to adaptations incorporated in terms of power, safety and comfort. This configuration is said to make it a highly versatile means of transport: its tram build enables it to run through the city, while its performance as a train allows it to transport passengers at over 100km/h once on the outskirts of town, without the need to change the means of transport.