Making France Olympic-ready

HUBER+SUHNER explains how the company helped to revamp the rail network in Paris

With 600,000 people expected for the 2024 Olympic ceremony alone, innovation was required within the French rail sector to efficiently transport athletes and attendees, creating a unique challenge for operators.

The 2024 Olympic Games are expected to attract more than 9.7 million spectators and around 10,500 athletes to Paris. With such a high volume of people arriving and needing to move around across the 40 different competition sites across France, the country’s rail infrastructure will be put under severe strain – not least in terms of the demands service users will have for fast and reliable Wi-Fi and internet connections while on the move.

A gold standard transportation service

The potential demand for public transport during the Olympic Games can be estimated by the number of tickets sold in comparison to the residential population of the host city. According to the study Managing the Olympics, the number of attendees at the Barcelona and Sydney Olympic Games were predicted to be triple the local populations, while at London 2012, the demands for transport were twice the size of typical peak demands.

Helping Paris to cope is the revamp of the city’s rail networks which was carried out by Alstom in 2018. As part of the upgrade, France’s state-owned rail enterprise, SNCF Mobilities, ordered over 100 of Alstom’s next-generation AVELIA Horizon very high-speed trains (known as TGV M), with an additional 15 trains added to the order in 2022 to assure reliable connections for attendees travelling from Italy and Switzerland.

These trains come equipped with a HUBER+SUHNER installed Internet Onboard System (IOB), optical fiber backbone and fiber optic (FO) assemblies that establish quick and reliable Wi-Fi and internet connections for passengers. The company has a successful history with Alstom and a proven track record in this field of technology, having provided fiber optic cable systems for high-speed Trenitalia trains back in 2016. This made HUBER+SUHNER the perfect partner for the project.

Cutting-edge solutions for the rail industry

HUBER+SUHNER was involved in two phases of the TGV M project. The first saw the development of detailed FO assembly designs that are compliant with Alstom’s specifications. This was followed by the mass production of these assemblies to be used across the entire AVELIA Horizon fleet for use during the Olympics.

FO technology was still a relatively new concept for the Alstom engineering, quality and installation teams making it important for HUBER+SUHNER to provide high levels of support and expertise throughout the development of the project. The company supplied Alstom with a range of solutions that met the company’s strenuous endurance program requirements to meet the rolling stock’s 30-year life expectancy. This included the Q-ODC2 railway hardened connectors already successfully implemented in rail networks across the globe, alongside Multimode 3 RADOX® Twinfin FO cables, and customised FO Inter-vehicle Jumper systems.

The connectors proved to be the most important aspect of the partnership, enabling a cost-effective, flexible, and resistant solution to support higher capacity deployments of wireless infrastructure for communication applications. Greater resiliency was also accomplished through the use of the RADOX® inter-vehicle jumper systems to connect carriages, ensuring performance wasn’t affected by extreme weather conditions or the constant highspeed movements during a journey.

To increase performance and provide high data-rate transmission for WiFi and on-board passenger systems, HUBER+SUHNER supplied the trains with its SENCITY® Rail MULTI rooftop antennas and SENCITY® Rail OMNI-SR Slim 3x3 MIMO in-carriage antennas. A customised kit of Radio Frequency (RF) filters were also provided to prevent any interference between the outside antennas from various communications systems.

As a result of these technologies, fast and reliable Wi-Fi and internet connections will be available on the TGV M trains. This will not only ensure consumer comfort by offering access to entertainment and news outlets, but will also allow people to communicate with friends, work, or relax as they travel between events. The trains are due to be running and in service across France in plenty of time for the Olympic games.

Benefits beyond the Olympics

With the influx of tourists expected for the Olympic Games during the summer of 2024, France has been provided a golden opportunity to showcase the innovations integrated throughout its travel infrastructure. However, even beyond the event there will be many benefits to be reaped for passengers and rail operators alike.

The new trains will provide a modern, sleek, and seamless travel option for the local population and tourists well beyond the Games. Tourists will be able to travel to and from Paris and other areas of France in comfort, meaning more people will be inclined to explore the city and contribute to the local economy. With a modern rail infrastructure in place, locals will be more attracted to travelling by rail than by car, lowering CO2 emissions and bringing increased profits for regional rail operators.

Discussions for a price shield for rail prices are currently underway between the Transport Minister of France and SNCF Mobilities for 2023 and beyond, and should it come to fruition, will be mainly applied to the high-speed TGV trains. The aim is to support locals who require these services for their daily commutes, and this will make high-speed rail travel a more attractive proposition for those looking to cut fuel and car maintenance costs.

A ‘future ready’ rail network

The fruitful partnership between HUBER+SUHNER and Alstom has not only provided solutions to overcome travel demands expected during the Olympic Games but has also led to technological developments which can be utilised in rail networks across the globe. The reliability of FO backbone technologies refined during this project will ensure future optimisation of high-speed trains, improving user experience and potentially boosting passenger frequency during rail journeys. Other solutions, such as the innovative jumper cables can be used by other manufacturers to guarantee fast, stable, and reliable on-board connectivity for all.

Email: railway-marketing@hubersuhner.com

Visit: hubersuhner.com/en/solutions/railway petzl.com

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