MF 77

The MF 77 (abbreviated from the French: Metro Fer appel d'offre 1977) is a steel-wheeled variant of the rolling stock used on the Paris Métro. First used in 1978, it now runs on Lines 7, 8, and 13.

Unlike previous models, the MF 77 was designed for travel into the immediate suburbs of Paris, and as a result has a maximum speed of 100 km/h (62 mph) which has yet to be fully utilised. In addition, it sports a new, curved silhouette with a wider midsection. Its original exterior colours, blue and white, led passengers to refer to it as "le métro blanc," or white metro.

History

Replacing the Sprague

In the early 1970s, upon the completion of the MF 67 delivery, at the time the newest steel-wheeled trains on the Métro, many technological advances in braking and traction caused the RATP, which oversees operations of the Parisian public transport network, to examine the possibilities for new steel, rather than rubber, wheeled trains to replace the ageing Sprague-Thomson fleet. Thus, the RATP commissioned a consortium of companies including Alstom, CEM, Creusot-Loire, and Jeumont Schneider, to design a new addition to the Métro's rolling stock, the MF 77.