The new MF19 trains will arrive on the RATP network by mid-February. Although they are more modern and comfortable, user associations regret the low number of seats.
This is a change eagerly awaited by Paris metro users. From February 14, the new MF19 trains will finally arrive on the RATP network. Brand new, straight from the Alstom factories, these will begin by being deployed on line 10, in order to replace the old fifty-year-old trainsets which have become obsolete. A “concrete and visible kick-off of the modernization plan for our historic network”RATP CEO Jean Castex welcomed this week. Enough to considerably improve the daily lives of travelers.
Ultimately, the MF19 will equip no less than eight lines of the Paris metro: lines 3, 3bis, 7, 7bis, 8, 10, 12 and 13. But not all will have the same trains. In order to respond to the specific problems of the lines, two formats of this new MF19 metro will be available: one in version “comfort”with 146 seats, including 102 fixed seats and 44 folding seats, and the other in version “capacity”with 122 seats, including 90 fixed seats and 32 folding seats.
Concretely, the trains will be able to accommodate more passengers, but by sacrificing seats. This means that a car from line 10, on which the MF19s will run in configuration “comfort”, will increase from 54 (including 24 seats and 30 folding seats) to 36 seats (including 24 seats and 12 folding seats). Likewise, a car from line 13 – on which the MF19s will run in configuration “capacity” – will go from 40 seats (including 24 fixed seats and 16 folding seats) to 28 (including 20 fixed seats and 8 folding seats).
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“We will have to fight to get a place”
This change worries user representatives, who regret the low number of seats, as revealed The Parisian. “We understand well what leads to the choice of the “comfort” configuration, with the constraints of the new standards, the places dedicated to PRM (people with reduced mobility, Editor's note), the spacing between the seats, but it is the choice of the “capacity” configuration for lines 7, 8 and 13 which we understand less »explains the president of FNAUT (National Federation of Transport User Associations) Île-de-France Marc Pélissier. “It’s a very technical debate, but we find it excessive that certain lines include almost half as many seats as before”he continues, convinced that“we will have to fight to get a place”. In addition, the user representative points out that the Grand Paris Express will soon desaturated the existing network. “It won't happen right away, but it will happen eventually. So do we really need to maximize “standing” capacity?he asks.
-Île-de-France Mobilités (IDFM)
“For us, the problem is getting on the metro, not being seated”says the president of the Plus de Trains users association, Arnaud Bertrand, more nuanced. “Providing fewer seats is a choice that applies each time a metro is renewed, such as on lines 1 and 14”he observes, before pointing out that the trend is the same on other major transport networks in the world, “like in New York or Tokyo, where the benches are even along the wall”. Be careful though, putting fewer seats in order to accommodate more people should not be “especially not” rhyme with “less metro”. In addition, the user representative pleads for priority places – reserved for pregnant women, people with disabilities, the elderly or accompanied by young children – to be “very clearly indicated”. “On line 14, the seats have a different color and that’s very good”he rejoices.
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“The choice to improve the fluidity of transport”
On the Île-de-France Mobilités side, the new configurations have been considered for years by Île-de-France Mobilités (IDFM), in agreement with the RATP, when ordering these new trains. The debate is already settled: “it’s a choice we make”we assure internally. “The MF19 is a new and comfortable metro which will gradually replace the oldest metros on 8 lines by 2033. With this metro, we have chosen to improve the fluidity of transport by transporting more people, particularly to peak hours »defended the vice-president in charge of transport in the Île-de-France region Grégoire de Lasteyrie. This rolling stock was designed and modulated in two configurations “to adapt to the specificities and needs of each metro line and in particular to their attendance”argues the organizing authority for public transport in the Ile-de-France region. This is why the version “comfort” was favored for lines 3, 10 and 12, while the version “capacity” will be operated on lines 7, 8 and 13, “very busy”.
According to IDFM, these metros, capable of carrying 844 people at the height of rush hour, must make it possible to “save space”, of “further streamline traffic on board” with getting on and off made easier by wider doors, and “to reduce and secure parking times at the dock”. “For example, 4 seconds of delay at the departure of the busiest stations during rush hour due to a door delay results in the loss of one metro passage over an hour”calculates the Ile-de-France authority.
The notion of comfort goes “beyond the number of seats on board”we add, recalling that the MF19 will be more modern and more pleasant. Alstom has “developed a completely new design”offering smooth circulation within the trains, new passenger information tools and on-board security cameras as well as reworked lighting. What to replace “the old cuckoos”according to the expression dear to Jean Castex, what the oldest metros in the network have become.
