Line A of the Paris RER. Photo: courtesy of Alstom.
Alstom has completed the dismantling and reassembly of signaling and speed control equipment for the Réseau Express Régional (RER), the commuter rapid transit system serving the Paris area, which was necessary for the renewal of ballasted track on RER's Line A.
The work was carried out between July 23 and August 21, 2016. The RER A line was reopened for passengers on August 21, in line with the schedule announced by the Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (RATP), the Paris public transport operator.
Benoit Pellerin, Alstom's managing director infrastructure France, said, "This operation confirms Alstom's know how in managing signaling works and demonstrates our expertise and flexibility in complex urban rail projects, at the service of our clients, and in this case the RATP."
The Alstom teams removed more than 150 items of signaling equipment, namely beacons, track circuits and track speed control equipment, so that the public works company could renew the ballasted track. The operation took into account working conditions in tunnels and difficult access, leading Alstom's teams to intervene over several kilometers of line, on different sites. Alstom was on very strict deadlines to enable traffic to resume on the scheduled date.
Once the new ballasted track had been installed, the Alstom teams reinstalled the signaling equipment and carried out performance tests to avoid any problems linked to the opening of the line.