Autorail à grande capacité
The Autorail à Grande Capacité (literally, high-capacity railcar) or AGC is a category of multiple unit train built at Bombardier Transportation's plant in Crespin for the French rail operator SNCF. The train comes in three variants, electric, diesel or dual-mode.
This train was first operated in 2004. It was created at the request of the regional railways of France, and has been very successful, with SNCF acquiring over 700 units. The AGC is designed to be modular, and regions can choose to create trains of 2 to 4 cars, in theory. So far, all trains built have had 3 or 4 cars. As well, the interior design is also modular, and regions can choose to include features such as first class seating, a bar area, ski racks, and other amenities for their fleet.
The Romanian company Remarul 16 Februarie has signed a contract with Bombardier in November 2010, for the purchase of a licence for manufacturing the AGC in Romania at Cluj-Napoca. Under the contract, Remarul will exclusively manufacture this train for sale in six countries: Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia.
All the French regions have acquired AGC Class trains (all variants together). The AGC Class fleet is the most important regional train in France as of 2010. By the fact, with this huge numbers of units in operations, AGC is well implanted in all regions since the 2000s.