What if Draisy, the new electric ‘country train’, could save the Angoulême-Limoges line?

At least, that’s what Nicole Bonnefoy, departmental councillor and senator, would like to see. She sees this new 100% battery-powered light train as a way of breathing new life into a route that has been closed since 2018.
Its name is Draisy, a new 100% battery-powered light train specially designed for rural areas. Conceived by SNCF, industrialist Lohr, SMEs GCK Battery and Stations-e, as well as the Railenium technological research institute, and supported by the Occitanie and Grand-Est regions, Draisy aims to be ‘an alternative to the private car’, boasts SNCF, which announces, in a presentation video, that it will enter service in 2028, ‘on dedicated lines that can be used occasionally by freight trains’.