On Tuesday 17 June 2025, the Société des grands projets, Île-de-France Mobilités and Alstom unveiled the first metro train for line 18, recently delivered to the Palaiseau operating centre.
The delivery of this first trainset in May, in line with the agreed timetable, marks the entry of line 18 into its test phase, the last stage of the works before the first section of the line between Massy - Palaiseau and Christ de Saclay stations is brought into service, scheduled for the last quarter of 2026.
By the end of 2026, the 15 trainsets for line 18, ordered and financed by Île-de-France Mobilités to the tune of €199m, will have been delivered to the Palaiseau operations centre. 10 trainsets will be needed to operate the first section of the line, and 5 additional trainsets to operate the second section to Orly airport, scheduled to enter service at the end of 2027.
Start of tests on line 18
The arrival of the first trains on line 18 marks the start of the testing phase, following several months of static and dynamic tests carried out at the Alstom site and at the Valenciennes rail testing centre (Centre d’Essais Ferroviaires). All the tests on line 18 will be controlled from the centralised command post at the Palaiseau operating centre, completed in spring 2025, and in which Alstom installs the supervision systems for the line's equipment. Alstom will coordinate these tests, a key stage in validating the transport system before it is taken over by Keolis, operator delegated by Île-de-France Mobilités. (....)