Alstom Secures €1.7 Billion Contract for 96 Additional RER NG Trains in Île-de-France

Île-de-France Mobilités has ordered 96 additional RER NG trainsets from Alstom for line D, bringing the total fleet to at least 262 units across two lines at a combined investment exceeding €5.5 billion. The €1.7 billion contract, announced on 23 June 2025 and fully funded by the regional transport authority, covers seven-car trains designed to replace the ageing fleet on one of the Paris region's busiest commuter lines.

Alstom recorded the order in the first quarter of its 2025/2026 fiscal year. Added to the 130 trainsets ordered for line E and the initial batches for line D, the total reaches 262 according to Alstom's June 2025 figures. IDFM's own website lists 148 trainsets for line D alone.

The RER NG entered commercial service on line E in November 2023, followed by line D on 18 December 2024 according to IDFM. On 21 May 2026, Valérie Pécresse, president of the Île-de-France region, celebrated the 100th trainset entering service on line E. The trains run on the western extension of line E to Nanterre-la-Folie and La Défense, opened in spring 2024, and will progressively serve the full extension to Mantes-la-Jolie from 2027, with complete service expected by 2029.

An open architecture offering 20% more capacity

The RER NG features an open gangway "boa" design across two levels, with no partitions between carriages. Its doors are nearly two metres wide, and eight powered bogies provide faster acceleration and braking than the previous generation. The line D version measures 130 metres, seats 606 passengers and carries up to 1,861 in total, a 20% increase over the trains it replaces. Each trainset contains more than 310 USB sockets, 54 information screens, 54 security cameras and 320 kilometres of cabling.

All trainsets are designed and assembled at Alstom's plants in Valenciennes-Petite Forêt and Crespin, in northern France, with components supplied from six other French sites. On line D, the rollout requires strengthening century-old metal bridges, upgrading electrical systems and signalling, and adapting 36 stations to accommodate the wider and heavier trains.

The programme is part of IDFM's broader fleet renewal, which has delivered more than 1,550 new or refurbished metros, trains, RER units and trams since 2016. Whether the network can absorb all 278 trainsets on schedule depends on completing the infrastructure works on line D and the Mantes-la-Jolie extension on line E, two projects that will define the pace of delivery over the coming years.

Sources: Alstom, press release (23/06/2025); IDFM, RER NG line D page; Defense-92.fr (29/05/2026); International Railway Journal; RailwayPro.

Photo: an RER NG (Z 58000) train at Chelles-Gournay station. Julio974fr, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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