France single coach units.

[richw]

Just come back from a day trip to Roscoff, and managed to see one of their 2 trains per day to Roscoff on the present timetable.
It immediately came to me that these single coach diesel units would make nice 153 replacements. I think they are very nice looking units.

Does anyone know any info on what these are? Manufacturer? model name? classification? How old are they as they look very modern?


Single Carriage train in Roscoff. by Rich.W., on Flickr


Single Carriage train in Roscoff. by Rich.W., on Flickr


Single Carriage train in Roscoff. by Rich.W., on Flickr

 

[90019]

Does anyone know any info on what these are? Manufacturer? model name? classification? How old are they as they look very modern?

According to Wikipedia, they're X73500 and were built by Alstom.

 

[Bonemaster]

Looks to be a type X73500 DMU, been around about 15 years or so from memory.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Yes, number sequence is X73501 to X73818 plus a further 19 units ( X73901 to X73919 ) which can cross the border into Germany.

That's 337 of them!

Built 1999 to 2004.

 

[richw]

According to Wikipedia, they're X73500 and were built by Alstom.

Brilliant Thank you. Shows Roscoff- Morlaix as a route they operate.

Do they split and join on routes? I am assuming they don't sit idol all day between the 2 services a day to Roscoff.

 

[philjo]

I travelled on one of these units (in the Languedoc-Roussillon Region red livery) recently from Carcassonne to Limoux where a SNCF coach connected to take us on to Quillan (as Limoux-Quillan section of line only gets 2 trains a day unfortunately not at the times we needed to travel). The whole journey Carcasssonne to Quillan only costs 1 euro each way!
Very smooth ride. it was like an oven when we got on as it had been in the siding for a while (we could see it coming out of the siding at Caracassone then reversing back into the station) but the aircon soon kicked in.
If you sit at the very front/back you can get a view through the frosted glass of the line through the driver's window.
Lots of room for bikes - there are fold up seats with racks above them to allow 5-6 bikes to be stored vertically (with front wheel on the racks & rear wheel on the floor) - the seat can be used if there are no bikkes there.

As can be seen from the window layout in the photo the middle of the train is at low level so the floor was the same level as the low platforms used in France. the seats at the ends of the unit are over the bogies so they are higher up (there are a few steps in the gangway) - where you get a better view.

 

[CC 72100]

Do they split and join on routes? I am assuming they don't sit idol all day between the 2 services a day to Roscoff.

I've certainly seen doubled-up units on other TER networks - these units and those of a similar age seem to be everywhere these days, as France about 10/15 years went through the stage of replacing elderly DMUs and loco-hauled with this type of unit (obviously bi-mode, electric and longer versions exist) and are as a result found throughout France.
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As can be seen from the window layout in the photo the middle of the train is at low level so the floor was the same level as the low platforms used in France. the seats at the ends of the unit are over the bogies so they are higher up (there are a few steps in the gangway) - where you get a better view.

Absolutely, they are by far the better seats on this and similar types of unit. (I'm thinking the B8500s on the Transilien line P for example)

Sat downstairs on the RER the other day, felt rather strange arriving into stations and being able to see under the platform, being level with people's feet!

Thankfully my branch is normally single deck trains with a conventional seating height throughout.

 

[starrymarkb]

I believe DB also took a batch for similar routes

 

[ainsworth74]

What's the seating capacity?

 

[starrymarkb]

64 in SNCF and 63 (including 1st classs) with DB

 

[ChristopherJ]

What's the seating capacity?

According to http://florent.brisou.pagesperso-orange.fr/Fiche ATER.htm

X73500
First Class: 0
Second Class: 64
Total : 64

X73900
First Class: 16
Second Class: 48
Total: 64

 

[Gordon]

They are essentially SNCF's modern day standard 'branch line' units, but they were designed to be equally useful at speed on local services on main lines (top speed 140km/h) . Unfortunately their suitability for main line speed and working up to three together means that they sometimes get used for quite long distance services, which only a proportion of their seating is really suitable for.

They were originally designated A-TER (as X-TER had already been taken for the less successful X72500 class DMUs).

Nicknames include blue banana, suppository, cucumber (and by some brits a slightly naughtier word beginning with D)

Here is a three unit

Responses to specific previous comments:


There are 336, not 337 as one unit was withdrawn following a level crossing accident

Do they split and join on routes.

Yes, most certainly. I took a Vierzon – Montlucon A-TER once and expected to change trains at Montlucon to get to Clermont Ferrand, but it was the same unit which became a different train number, and they added a third railcar at Montlucon

I am assuming they don't sit idle all day between the 2 services a day to Roscoff.

Not a good assumption with SNCF! SNCF has been infamous for decades for poor utilisation of some stock. It is not unknown for stock to sit around for most of the day between working especially on some of the most precarious surviving branch lines

I believe DB also took a batch for similar routes

Yes, DB class 641

 

[ChristopherJ]

The last time I travelled on one of these X73500 units was from Étaples-Le Touquet to Calais-Ville, the unit was a TER Picardie unit despite it being on a TER NPDC service. How often do TER units - not just these X73500 units - get loaned between the regions? I’ve always assumed TER units remain in their respective region bar only short one-stop hops across to the adjacent region for the purpose of interchange with other services.

SNCF has been infamous for decades for poor utilisation of some stock

SNCF would have a fit if they came over here and saw how intensively we work our rolling stock everyday, all-day, day-in-day-out.

I imagine, despite having no form of evidence and going by pure experience, that the most intensely worked stock in France are RER Z2N units in Île-de-France, followed closely by TGVs.

 

[Eire Sprinter]

I travelled on one of these "mini TGVs" en route to Roscoff for the ferry to Rosslare (the mini TGV is a nickname I read somewhere) and it was jam packed with many standees. Ideally two units were needed.

The Roscoff-Morlaix line can only be traversed by trains in the daytime and trains are subject to a 60km/h maximum. There's a few TER buses between Roscoff and Morlaix too.

This is an interesting piece about the line albeit in French. Henvic is a closed station on the line.

The viaduct over the Penzé river is a key feature on the line.

PS: nice photos there richw.

 

[davetheguard]

The French units also work through to Germany; I saw one in Alsace livery at Muellheim station in Germany (on the Freiburg to Basel main line) about three weeks' ago.

It was working on the recently re-opened cross border line to Mulhouse in France. I know there is also a daily Paris to Freiburg TGV train pair via this line, but I presume that the DMU is the usual traction?

 

[317666]

6 SNCF units are ex-CFL (Luxembourg Railways), who sold them in 2005.

 

[richw]

The Roscoff-Morlaix line can only be traversed by trains in the daytime and trains are subject to a 60km/h maximum. There's a few TER buses between Roscoff and Morlaix too.

PS: nice photos there richw.

I am assuming the maximum speed relates to the state of the sleepers. Take a look on my Flickr if you can to see some of the sleepers.

Looking at the rail timetable there was an hourly bus

 

[Gordon]

The French units also work through to Germany;
It was working on the recently re-opened cross border line to Mulhouse in France. I know there is also a daily Paris to Freiburg TGV train pair via this line, but I presume that the DMU is the usual traction?

Yes, as already stated by Peter earlier in the thread.
The X73900 version are fitted with the required equipment for working into Germany, across the border routes into Saarbrucken, Strasbourg – Offenburg and the Mulhouse - Mullheim route, where they are indeed the regular traction. Most workings terminate at Mullheim, but on weekdays there is one return working all the way to Freiburg, and two return workings weekends.

I am assuming the maximum speed relates to the state of the sleepers

Yes, the branch is in pretty poor state. Other SNCF branches have been ‘temporarily closed’ in this condition never to reopen. The trains run at unlikely timing which suggest they survive only as ‘parly’ trains.



.

 

[158801]

There's at least 10 of them parked up at Gare St Paul in Lyon

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=lyon&ie=UTF8&ll=45.766226,4.826396&spn=0.002352,0.004128&hnear=Lyon,+Rh%C3%B4ne,+Rhone-Alpes,+France&t=h&z=19

Please board the front train only for........

 

[jopsuk]

There's at least 10 of them parked up at Gare St Paul in Lyon

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=lyon&ie=UTF8&ll=45.766226,4.826396&spn=0.002352,0.004128&hnear=Lyon,+Rh%C3%B4ne,+Rhone-Alpes,+France&t=h&z=19

Please board the front train only for........

Swung the camera around. Quite clearly exactly 12 :P http://goo.gl/maps/jqMc3

 

[Gordon]

There's at least 10 of them parked up at Gare St Paul in Lyon

Please board the front train only for........

The view is out of date.

The A-TERs had taken over from Caravelle DMUs but now the service is being gradually turned over to tram-train, so a current view would have soem railcars and some electric tram-trains (Citadis)

The Lyon Ouest tram train is unusual in that on some sections modern trams are running under heavyweight 1500v dc catenary with classic heavyweight SNCF dc poles.

This is because the line was electrified in 1954 between St Paul and Charbonnieres les Bains as part of the PLM Paris - Marseille electrification and St Paul was the terminus of some electric hauled commuter trains, as the line was linked from Gorge de Loup to the PLM main line and some commuter trains served that route between 1954 and the early 1980s



.

 

[richw]

Yes, the branch is in pretty poor state. Other SNCF branches have been ‘temporarily closed’ in this condition never to reopen. The trains run at unlikely timing which suggest they survive only as ‘parly’ trains.

.

The timings were 1137 and some time mid afternoon.

Here is the sleepers just by the level crossing near the Roscoff ferry terminal for view of discussion:

***PLEASE NOTE THESE PICTURES ARE NOT IN THE UK***


nice condition of railway sleepers by Rich.W., on Flickr


nice condition of railway sleepers by Rich.W., on Flickr

 

[Gordon]

The timings were 1137 and some time mid afternoon.

Here is the sleepers just by the level crossing near the Roscoff ferry terminal for view of discussion:

Yes - I checked the on line timetable for the timings

Strewth - the sleepers are really bad even by rural SNCF standards

'love' the fact that there is freshened ballast in your second picture despite the sleepers!

The train times could be to suit schoolchildren as is often the case in rural France - some bits of SNCF branch line have survived solely for school traffic

I vaguely remember something about this line only surviving because of financial support from local parish etc councils

 

[richw]

In the first picture you can see new recent bolts holding the rail to the sleepers. I'd guess they go deeper into the wood where it isn't as rotten!

 

[Eire Sprinter]

There's a section of the line which runs parallel to the D58 road nearing Roscoff where the train goes very slow.

Some photos of the Roscoff – Morlaix line here from the A Fer et A flots website, one of its excursions involves being able to travel on the train from Morlaix to Roscoff and return by boat: http://www.aferaflots.org/Voie-ferree-345-3-0-0.html

Three trains each way daily (including Sundays & holidays) is the usual Summer service on the line.

 

[richw]

Eire sprinter, my photos were taken adjacent to the level crossing on the d58. The pictures almost show how slow the train was travelling, I used an old compact camera and it focused and took ok pictures which isn't possible on anything moving at any considerable speed.