The MI 2N (French: ''Matériel d'Interconnexion à 2 Niveaux'', English: ''two-level interconnection rolling stock'') is a family of double-deck, dual-voltage

electric multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number o ...

trainsets that are operated on the

Réseau Express Régional The (; ), commonly abbreviated RER (), is a hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system serving Paris and its suburbs. It acts as a combined city-center underground rail system and suburbs-to-city-center commuter rail, similar to the Elizabe ...

(RER), a hybrid suburban commuter and

rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT) or heavy rail, commonly referred to as metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport that is generally built in urban areas. A grade separation, grade separated rapid transit line below ground su ...

system serving

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and its

Île-de-France The Île-de-France (; ; ) is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 residents on 1 January 2023. Centered on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the cou ...

suburbs. There are two variants of the MI 2N that look very similar but feature different motorization and interior layout: * The MI 2N "Altéo" is operated by RATP on the

RER A RER A is one of the five lines in the Réseau Express Régional (English: Regional Express Network), a hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system serving the city and suburbs of Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List o ...

line. 43 trains or 215 cars were built. * The Class Z 22500 (MI 2N "Eole") is operated by

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (, , SNCF ) is France's national State-owned enterprise, state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the Rail transport in France, country's national rail traffic along with th ...

on the

RER E RER E is one of the five lines in the Réseau Express Régional (English: Regional Express Network), a hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system serving Paris and its suburbs. The line travels between western and eastern suburbs, with all ...

line. 53 trains or 265 cars were built. The trainsets were by a

consortium A consortium () is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations, or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a ...

of French manufacturer

Alstom Alstom SA () is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer which operates worldwide in rail transport markets. It is active in the fields of passenger transportation, signaling, and locomotives, producing high-speed, suburban, regional ...

(at the time known as GEC Alstom) and

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

conglomerate Bombardier. The final assembly of the trains was performed at Alstom's

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; ; or ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced ...

factory and Bombardier's Crespin factory between 1995 and 2005. The double-decker trains grew out of an effort to increase capacity on the RER A line, one of the world's busiest routes. These trains could carry up to 2,600 people per train, compared to 1,887 people on the single-deck trains that had been used on the RER A since it opened. These double-deck trains proved so successful and popular, operators of the RER A went on to purchase 140

MI 09 The MI 09 (French: ''Matériel d'Interconnexion de 2009'', English: ''interconnection rolling stock of 2009'') is a double-deck, dual-voltage electric multiple unit trainset that is operated on line A of the Réseau Express Régional (RER), a ...

trainsets, an improved version of the MI 2N that would be built by the same Alstom-Bombardier consortium. Having this capacity to transport more than 2600 passengers, which can be distinguished from the layout of the MI 2N trains, is the fact that they have 15 doors on each side, including 3 per car. Having a width of 2m which allows to take out and input 4 people on such door namely the unit of the flow rate of users (voy.m3). What is worth a train in single unit a flow of 60 people and train in multiple unit of 120 people.

External links

MI 2N page on Metro-pole.net
Double-decker EMUs Electric multiple units of France SNCF multiple units Train-related introductions in 1997 {{France-rail-transport-stub