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The Geneva RER or Rhône Express Regional is a commuter railway service which runs between Geneva Cornavin Station, Switzerland (where it mostly uses the dedicated Platform 5) and La Plaine (Swiss terminus) and Bellegarde-sur-Valserine in France. It forms part of the Lyon-Geneva Railway. It is probably not a coincidence that the initials correspond to the Paris suburban railway commuter network RER.
Contents
This line used to be electrified at 1500V DC and signalled to SNCF standards from the border to both Geneva's central passenger station and La Praille goods depot.
Prior to the introduction of the "RER" brand in 1995 the Geneva - La-Plaine service was operated by two notoriously unreliable BDe 4/4 II railcars.
Rolling stock
Initially, service was operated by five specially built two coach articulated railcars of class Bem550. These were built by Vevey Technologies (formerly Ateliers de Constructions Mécaniques de Vevey (ACMV)) with electrical equipment by Asea Brown Boveri in 1994. They ran under 1.5kV DC wires, but were equipped with a diesel engine to enable them to reach the workshops.
When the service frequency was expanded, some trains composed of RIO carriages hauled by BB25500 series locos. This rather antiquated rolling stock was replaced progressively by Stadler FLIRT RABe 524 EMUs.
From December 2010, to June 2014, Geneva - la Plaine services were operated by three Stadler FLIRT RABe 524 EMUs, which were not certified to run beyond la Plaine, while Geneva-Bellegarde services were operated by the Bem550s. The RABe 524 were taken temporarily from the Ticino railway network as they can also run on 1.5 kV DC. These sets went back to Ticino when the Genève-La Plaine line was re-electrified with 25 kV AC as they cannot use that voltage, to be replaced by RABe 522 EMUs.
Service
The service is twice hourly in each direction weekdays, with additional hourly services to Bellegarde at peak hours. These services do not stop at La Plaine (since 10 December 2010). Fares within the Swiss sector are covered by the Tout Genève ('whole of Geneva') rate, zones 11-17.
Recent works
On 8 February 2008, the Swiss and French Railways brought into being a study and marketing company, Transferis, which is to look at improvements to the RER system. They are to look at the type of train to be used and evaluate to market for improvements to line and service provided. This has been brought about by the number of commuters living in France and working in Geneva, not only on the short, existing RER system but on the lines leaving the station at Eaux Vives on the south side of the lake.
The new, enlarged, RER network will cover the present Eaux Vives to Annemasse line with services at regular intervals beyond to serve Evian, St. Gervais and Annecy, the present Cornavin to La Plaine line with services beyond to serve Bellegarde and the CFF services operating from Lancy (Pont Rouge) to Coppet through Cornavin, some of which are extended to Nyon. These services at present carry some 7,000 commuters a day and this is expected to grow to over 35,000 and cut up to 50,000 car journeys between France and Switzerland.
The largest civil engineering project within the scheme is the CEVA line from Cornavin to Annemasse which will be in tunnel between La Praille, close by the present goods station, and Eaux Vives. Between Eaux Vives and Annemasse the present line will be closed for a four years period whilst it is doubled and cut-and-covered. The whole scheme is expect to cost 776 million euro and include improvements to the French stations, although 650 million euro will be spent in Switzerland.
As part of the scheme and to avoid RER rolling stock needing three voltages, Cornavin – La Plaine – Bellegarde was re-electrified at 25 kV AC in summer 2014. This not only allows standard Swiss dual voltage (25kvAC 50 Hz and 15kV 16⅔ Hz) EMUs to work on the line but also improves the performance of the TGV workings (Paris-Geneva TGVs no longer need to run under 1.5kV DC).
The French signaling and train control between Geneva and la Plaine was replaced with standard Swiss equipment, the points motors renewed and the line fully automated.