User testing in the train identifies any further adjustments required to make the metro 100% accessible.
Collaborative work
The challenge for Alstom, the train manufacturer,
was to carry a large number of passengers while
guaranteeing a high level of comfort and providing
enough grip handles for everyone. Alstom was chosen
by Société du Grand Paris and Île-de-France Mobilités
to design and manufacture the rolling stock for
Lines 15, 16 and 17, supplying a maximum of 183 train
sets capable of travelling at speeds up to 110 km/h.
Innovations such as an ergonomic interior design,
speed, electric service braking, an optimised
automatic control system, and eco-friendly
air-conditioning and heating have kept 150 engineers
with complementary expertise busy for two years.
“The metro train is a complex system,” explains
Nicolas Schoemaecker, a train systems engineer
at Alstom. He and his team define the train’s primary
functions related to traction, braking and doors.
“Interfacing the automatic control system with all
the subsystems and coordinating their functions is rather
like transplanting a human brain to control the body’s
organs.”
Accessibility in action
Accessibility has been one of Société du Grand Paris’s
major concerns. It has therefore worked actively with
associations representing different types of disability
at all stages of the rolling stock design process.
The full-scale model has been a valuable tool in this
collaborative approach. At the end of October, it was
tested under real-life conditions by representatives
from these associations. As well as seeing the
improvements made to the train as a result of their
feedback during an earlier virtual tour in 2019,
they were able to propose further adjustments
before manufacturing begins in 2021.
CSR APPROACH
RISKS AND CHALLENGES
IDENTITY
2020 ACTIVITY
Activity report
