SNCF Class Z 20500

The SNCF Class Z 20500 is a double-deck, dual-voltage electric multiple unit that SNCF operates on the Paris RER and Transilien suburban networks. Two hundred trainsets were built by a consortium of Alstom, which was then known as GEC Alsthom, ANF Industrie and the Compagnie industrielle de materiel de transport, with final assembly running from 1988 to 1998. The class belongs to the Z 2N family and was drawn up from the earlier Z 5600 and Z 8800 layout, first with short trailer cars of about 24.8 metres and from 1991 with long trailer cars of 26.4 metres. Trainsets run as four or five cars on the RER C and D and on Transilien lines P and R, and a related batch of six units, the Z 92050, was bought for the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region in 1996 and moved to Transilien line P after 2012. Two refurbishment programmes have renewed seating, information systems and glazing, but the units are not air conditioned.