Z5300

SNCF Class Z5300 is a suburban EMU serving mostly Paris'region. It belongs to “inox” trains (“inox” is an abbreviation of “acier inoxydable”, “stainless steel” in French). Therefore it's dubbed “p'tit gris” (little gray one), “boite de conserve” (tin), “canette” (can), or even “poubelles” (trash can).

First Z5300 units were built in 1965, after class Z5100. As other “inox” trains (Z5100, Z3700, …), they are made of stainless steel and built with Budd process by the company Carel et Fouché which has a license to use this process. There are two subseries of Z5300, the first one has the same windows'frames as Z5100 whereas the second one uses neoprene frames.

Some Z5300 have been refurbished so few of them still have the original leather benches. Some trains have been equiped with equipment for alone agent (EAS), these are recognizable with red-painted doors. Z5300 have been retired since 2003, though there are still some serving Transilien line N and R and RER line D (Paris regional lines).

Two trains were involved in the tragic accident of Gare de Lyon in 1988. A train which was out of control, after unintentional draining of its braking system, smashed another train standing in the underground station.

Z5300 is usually used in four carriages trainsets but some trains are made of only three carriages.

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