European Railroad Discussion > New Private Operator for Marseille-Nice Service

France has been slow compared to other European nations in the contracting out of
passenger rail services to private operators on its national rail system.  A breakthrough
will occur on June 29 when Transdev takes over the Marseille-Nice regional express trains
for the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region.  Transdev is a French-based company operating
transit services globally(including many in the U.S.).

The good news is that train frequency will double to 16 daily round trips.  The bad news for
fans of classic traction is that the SNCF BB22200 plus Corail stock will be replaced by
16 new Alstom Omneo Premium 8-car EMU's.  Only 8 will be available on day one with
Transdev leasing EMU's from other regions in the interim.  All should be in service by year
end.  SNCF will continue to operate local stopping trains on the route.  The new timetable:
https://storage.googleapis.com/is-wp-22-prod/uploads-prod/2025/02/Fiche-horaire-ZOU-TRSI.pdf

Alstom photo of one of the new trains is pictured at the Velim Test Center in the Czech Republic.
Scroll down to "Transdev ready to roll" at the following site for further info:
https://frenchrailwayssociety.org/june-2025-news



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/06/25 15:25 by milepost20.

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That is one busy paint scheme!