Alstom's MP14 metro enters commercial service in Paris

Designed and manufactured with the contribution of eight Alstom sites in France

12 October 2020 – Alstom's MP14 metro has been put into commercial service on Line 14, between the stations Olympiades and Saint-Lazare, by Valérie Pécresse, President of the Île-de-France Region and of Île-de-France Mobilités, and Catherine Guillouard, CEO of RATP, in the presence of Henri Poupart-Lafarge, Chairman and CEO of Alstom.

"We are proud to see the MP14 metro running in Île-de-France after having designed and manufactured it in our centre of metro excellence in Valenciennes, with the contribution of seven other Alstom sites in France for the components. A project like MP14 will make it possible to ensure production at eight Alstom sites in France and its suppliers until around 2026,” said Henri Poupart-Lafarge, Chairman and CEO of Alstom.

MP14, which has entered commercial service on Line 14 and is financed by Île-de-France-Mobilités, is an automated, rubber-tyred metro made up of eight cars. This state-of-the-art metro is designed to improve passenger experience while reconciling performance, energy efficiency and ease of maintenance, in order to keep costs under control throughout its lifecycle.

MP14 offers an unprecedented level of comfort and safety thanks to its interior layout and seats with a design based on the theme of the alcove, creating both conviviality and privacy. Vast reception areas offer accessibility to all passengers, with dedicated areas and boomerang-shaped seats to improve the fluidity and capacity of the trains. MP14 also has LED lighting efficiently distributed throughout the entire metro to provide a sense of security and banish all areas of shadow. The supports and steadying points are compliant with standards and increase comfort inside the train. Warm and cool ventilation helps to provide a sense of wellbeing, whatever the season. MP14 also provides comprehensive video protection and dynamic passenger information on board. The design of this new metro is underlined by signature lighting on the front end of the train.

MP14's 100% electrical braking system recuperates energy and re-injects it into the network as electricity, while limiting the emission of fine particles caused by the mechanical brakes. The system reduces the energy consumption of the metros, as well as air pollution, by up to 20%.[1] MP14 is also 40% quieter (-2 dB) with a 95% recyclability rate. The interior layouts are modular. It can therefore be modified over time, enabling maintenance throughout its lifespan.  

Some 20 automated metros destined for line 14, consisting of eight cars each, will be delivered in 2021. Production of the six-car automated metros for Line 4 is currently at the stage of pre-production and testing, notably for the CBTC system[2]. The manufacture of the five-car trains for Line 11 will begin in the last quarter of 2020, in time for qualification tests in 2021.

Eight of Alstom's 14 sites in France are involved in this project: Valenciennes for the studies, integration, validation and testing, Le Creusot for the bogies, Ornans for the engines, Villeurbanne for the on-board computerised systems, Tarbes for the traction, Aix-en-Provence for the safety IT, Reichshoffen for the collision studies and Saint-Ouen for the design.

[1] In relation to the previous generation of comparable MP05 metros.

[2] Communication Based Train Control is an automatic rail traffic control system based on continuous communication between the train and computers in charge of controlling the traffic.