The Autorail à Grande Capacité (literally, high-capacity railcar) is a category of multiple unit trains built by the Canadian train manufacturer Bombardier at Crespin[1] for the French rail operator SNCF. The AGC will also be produced by Remarul 16 Februarie in Romania at Cluj-Napoca for several east european rail operators.[2]
The series consists of 3 models:
The modularity of these trains permits each railroad (or region) to choose the number of units – currently 3 or 4 – that make up the train, as well as the interior layout of the cars (e.g. lounge car, first class, etc.). Trains can also be made up of mixed units, i.e. a train can be made up from both BGC and ZGC units. Basse-Normandie and Lorraine regions have also ordered sets that consist of both diesel and electric units (i.e XGC and ZGC). A two-unit variant has never been ordered; the B 82500 is only available in a four-unit version.
The first car delivered was a B 81500, numbered B 81501, and was put into service on February 6, 2004 for TER Midi-Pyrénées service. The 200th trainset was put into service 20 November 2006 on the TER Haute-Normandie. The first B 82500 unit was delivered February 2007 and entered into service on the TER Champagne Ardenne on May 15, 2007.
Depending on configuration, the trains can attain speeds of up to 140 km/h (87 mph) in diesel mode and 160 km/h (99 mph) in electric mode.