From June 11 on the Paris metro is to start going green with a new fleet of brightly-colored, energy-saving trains to help carry the network's five million daily passengers. With soft lighting, automatic doors, larger windows and energy-efficient air conditioning, the new trains will gradually replace the ageing 1970s fleet on three of the capital's 16 metro lines, between now and 2016.
In a bid to save 30% on energy consumption, the new carriages will also be slower -- running at a maximum speed of 70 kilometres per hour (40 miles per hour) instead of 100 kph at present.
The new metros are built by French engineering giant Alstom, jointly with Canada's Bombardier, Areva TA for computing and security and door systems from the Italian Ansolado.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2008
