Global mobility leader Bombardier Transportation has received an order for 33 BOMBARDIER OMNEO Regio 2N trains, from SNCF on behalf of the Hauts-de-France region. This new order amounts to approximately 565 million euro ($688 million US), including price escalations based on best faith assessment of assumptions, and is part of the framework agreement signed with SNCF in 2010 to provide a maximum of 860 OMNEO Regio 2N trains to the French regions.
The Hauts-de-France region intends to deploy these new more spacious and comfortable trains on the busiest lines of its network, in particular those connecting Picardy and the Paris area. The new trainsets, equipped with European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS), the European system aimed to enhance safety, increase efficiency and scheduling of trains, will also provide new rail services as part of the Picardie-Roissy project, which is planned to enter service in 2025.
The trains of this new order will be delivered gradually between 2024 and 2025.
“Those who travel between Amiens, Saint-Quentin and Paris will discover a new style of train travel with Bombardier’s OMNEO Regio 2N train. Our engineers have focused on space for the benefit of all travellers, on modern interior equipment, as well as capacity to ensure seating for everyone,” said Laurent Bouyer, President of Bombardier Transportation, France and Benelux. “These trains, entirely designed and manufactured at our Crespin site, in the Hauts-de-France region, have received the Origine France Garantie certification.”
The region will then have a fleet of 77 Bombardier trainsets of this generation:
- 18 trainsets made up of seven cars, delivered between 2014 and 2017 to the former Nord-Pas-de-Calais region
- 7 extra-long type trainsets comprising ten cars, delivered in 2017 to the former Picardy region
- 19 intercity type trainsets ordered in 2018 as part of the transfer to the Hauts-de-France region of the Intercity Paris – Amiens and Paris – Saint-Quentin – Maubeuge/Cambrai lines (which will be delivered in 2022 and 2023)
- 33 OMNEO Regio 2N trains to SNCF for the Hauts-de-France region
The region’s choice to have a fleet from the same product family will make it possible to gain operating flexibility and optimize maintenance costs. These new trainsets will also improve the regularity of the service.
OMNEO Regio 2N, a Made in France success
For the third year in a row, Bombardier Transportation has obtained the Origine France Garantie label for the OMNEO Regio 2N train; it is the only certification that attests to the French origin of a product through an independent audit and guarantees a high level of standards. “This is recognition for our Crespin site employees’ know-how and a pledge of our commitment to our customers, passengers and the entire French rail industry,” concluded Laurent Bouyer.
More spacious and comfortable trains
Bombardier teams did specific work on the comfort of these new trains in conjunction with SNCF and the Hauts-de-France region. These new OMNEO Regio 2N trains have been designed to allow travellers to rediscover the pleasure of everyday journeys. The trains will, for example, have air conditioning and a heated floor ensuring a high level of thermal comfort, dynamic line plans in all passenger spaces, therefore improving user information, as well as adapted accessibility for people with reduced mobility.
A new seat will be developed with high and optimized tilt, density foam and backrest tilt optimizing postural comfort as well as armrests for all seating positions. The layout of these new OMNEO Regio 2N trainsets has been adapted to allow 620 fixed seats and 12 bicycle spaces per 135-metre train. As the trainsets can be operated in double units, the new trains will offer up to 1,240 seats, which is more than the current trains.
Thanks to an unequalled body width, the train design will offer a layout of five seats in a row in two-level coaches, while offering a large corridor. Flow management has also been improved with a 2 + 1 layout near the access doors.
The OMNEO platform, from which the Regio 2N and the OMNEO Premium come from, is a family of extra-wide double-deck trains that combine capacity, comfort and accessibility. The different versions make it possible to provide peri-urban, regional and intercity services. The performance of the 250 OMNEO Regio 2N trains which run today contributes to the regularity of the service.
To date, the French regions have ordered 491 trainsets from the OMNEO platform including 118 OMNEO Premium version trainsets for Centre-Val de Loire (32), Hauts-de-France (19), Normandy (67), 373 OMNEO Regio 2N trains for Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (59), Bretagne (26), Centre-Val de Loire (16), Hauts-de-France (58), Ile-de-France (145), Nouvelle Aquitaine (24), Occitanie (18), Pays-de-la-Loire (11) and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (16).
