France: The contract worth almost €850 mln also includes 15 years of maintenance for the double-deck trainsets. The deliveries are scheduled to commence in 2028.
Founded this year, the new French operator has received €1 bln from Antin Infrastructure Partners, a private equity firm, for the initial activities (purchase of rolling stock, renting a depot, working capital). Proxima plans to provide service between Paris and the cities of Bordeaux, Rennes, Nantes, and Angers.
Before that, the national operator SNCF placed an order for a total of 115 new-generation high-speed Avelia Horizon trains with a design speed of 350 km/h. The first vehicles are now tested on the French railways and its operation is expected to start in 2025.
Kevin Speed, another French private operator, is also going to purchase Alstom’s high-speed trains, namely 20 single-deck Avelia Stream trainsets.
