NMBS/SNCB M7 railcar

The M7 cars are a series of bilevel rail cars of the National Railway Company of Belgium, NMBS/SNCB, developed from the M6 cars and built by Bombardier Transportation and Alstom. The first car was delivered in September 2018. The M7 coaches are mainly intended as intercity stock and will completely replace the M4 and partly replace the M5; different types of M7 cars can be coupled to form loco-hauled or self-propelled trains similar to the German Twindexx Vario. On 18 December 2015 the SNCB, Bombardier Transportation and Alstom concluded a contract to deliver up to 1,362 bilevel rail cars of a new design, with 445 cars ordered at the same time. The 65 motorized cars of this order are manufactured in Valenciennes by Alstom, while Bombardier produces all the others in Bruges. The cars are to be used in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg; further orders were made in 2020 for 204 cars and in 2021 for 98 cars, and by 2023 1,049 carriages had been ordered. Six different types of M7 car are produced, and the cars feature air conditioning and a closed toilet system.