SNCF Class Z 20900

SNCF ordered the Class Z 20900 at the end of 1998 to complete the rolling stock fleet of line C and to replace the last 42 Z 5300 units still in service. The design of 54 four-car trainsets would be based on the earlier Z 20500.They are distinguished in particular by :

• large, much more comfortable seats with armrests
• their fixed composition at 4 cars
• the Alstom OniX traction chain (Onduleur à Intégration eXceptionnelle) based on IGBT components.
• the installation of the end-of-evening security system by the possibility of neutralizing the passenger spaces of the power cars
• air conditioning and tinted windows
• the inter-circulation between the two central car;
• luminous and audible warning device for the closing of the doors

The two power cars (ZB) have 82 seats while the two trailers (ZRB) each have 96, as well as a toilet.

In order to complete the rolling stock of line C of the RER, and to eliminate from the line the last Z 5300 units still in service, the SNCF ordered new Z 20500 type trainsets at the end of 1998, but with various engine and amenagement upgrades. These new components were delivered from July 2001 to 2004 and were numbered Z 20900. Their delivery made it possible to eliminate, by shifting, the first sub-series of Z 6100 in the northern suburbs. Between 2001 and 2012, 12 trains were used for the line H.

The OniX traction motor was tested on unit Z 20887-20888(Z20500 series), and is used on all trains of this series. This propulsion system is also used in Z 23500 (TER 2N) and CP 3500.

As of 1 January 2022, 54 Z20900 trainsets are based at the Les Ardoines SNCF depot.

As shown below, they are formed with two motored cars and two non-powered (trailer) cars (2M2T).

• < or > show a pantograph. Cars 1 and 4 are each equipped with one pantograph.
• Cars 2 and 3 are connected by a gangway.

The number of Z 20900 trainsets is 54, numbered 201 A to 254 A (the index "A" indicating asynchronous motorization). All are in service on line C of the Île-de-France RER and are managed by the technical supervision of the line C fleet (SLC).

• Listing Fleet Z20900 (in french)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to SNCF Class Z 20900.

• 
  Z 20900 in the SNCF livery
• 
  Z 20900 in the navy blue Transilien livery
• 
  Z 20900 interior, upper deck (original)
• 
  Z 20900 interior, the mid-deck wide entry, and stairs to lower deck, as seen from the upper deck
• 
  Operators compartment
• 
  Z 20900 interior (refurbished)

• Redoutey, Denis (2007). Le matériel moteur de la SNCF. La vie du Rail. ISBN 978-2-915034-65-3.
• Bernard Collardey, Les trains de banlieue, tome II, Éd. La Vie du Rail, 1999, 335 p. ISBN 2902808763
• Le parc Z 20900, on metro-pole.net via web.archive.org, 1er janvier 2008(in french)
• Revue bimestrielle Voies Ferrées, Le matériel moteur de la SNCF, en plusieurs articles sur plusieurs numéros par année. (in french)
• Revue mensuelle Rail Passion, État trimestriel du matériel moteur SNCF, un article par trimestre. (in french)
• Lydie, « https://malignec.transilien.com/2017/10/24/sive/ » [archive], Le blog du RER C, 24 octobre 2017 (consulté le 3 novembre 2017).(in french)
• « https://www.cheminots.net/forum/topic/24494-z-5600-z-8800-z-20500-z-20900-z2n-sujet-officiel/page/82/?tab=comments#comment-821264 » [archive], sur Le web des cheminots , article du 22 avril 2018 (consulté le 24 avril 2018) : « La 1ère à sortir du Technicentre de Saint Pierre des Corps est la Z 20905/06 (203A). Cette dernière est ressortie avec la même livrée qu'une partie des Z2N de la ligne C, à base de rouge "carmillon" de la SNCF et "vif argent" du STIF ».(in french)
• Marc Carémantrant, « Les débuts des Z 20900 » dans Rail Passion no 51, septembre 2001, pp. 12 et 13.(in french)
• Bernard Collardey, Les trains de banlieue, tome II, p. 302.(in french)
• « https://www.cheminots.net/forum/topic/24494-z-5600-z-8800-z-20500-z-20900-z2n-sujet-officiel/page/82/ » [archive], sur Le Web des Cheminots (consulté le 11 juin 2018).(in french)