Delivery of the 100 Avelia Horizon trainsets to SNCF will run from 2023 to 2033.
Branded Avelia Horizon by Alstom, the double-deck trains will be acquired at a cost of €25m per trainset, which SNCF [Société nationale des chemins de fer français] says is €5m cheaper than the list price for the current TGV [trains de grande vitesse] Duplex design. The total order value is €2.7bn, which includes an allocation of €170m for maintenance and contract options. News of the planned order broke in March, when Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire suggested it would be placed formally ‘by the end of June’.
The trains are foreseen as the first build of a next generation of high speed trainset which is being developed under the TGV of the Future programme launched by Alstom and SNCF in September 2016. Delivery of the trains is planned to begin in 2023 and conclude 10 years later.
The trains will have a more modular interior and is expected to offer a 20% increase in capacity, carrying a maximum of 740 passengers in the most high-density layout envisaged by SNCF. This compares to approximately 500 in existing TGVs. Passengers would also be offered improved onboard services and connectivity.