RATP designs, produces and purchases according to specifications transport infrastructures and equipment with a long life span:

• At least 15 years for buses;
• 40-45 years for trains;
• Over 100 years for underground infrastructures.

RATP has built up its expertise in environmental issues by providing information and training to all its engineering staff. Eco-design and eco-specification make it possible to consider environmental criteria alongside traditional considerations such as cost, quality, technical feasibility and market requirements. Projects designed in this way are viable, fair and sustainable, and produce an end product of a quality equal to or better than those produced by traditional methods.

Through eco-design and eco-specification, RATP aims to:

• Control use of resources (energy, water, materials, space);  
• Restrict emissions (pollution, noise, vibrations, etc.);
• Reduce the impacts of projects and activities on the environment and on human health;
• Manage maintenance, upkeep and end-of-life disposal (adaptability, reversibility);
• Find the best environmental solutions for the local area.

Today, RATP’s skills lie in a wide variety of fields. Examples:

• RATP’s “chantiers verts” or “green worksites” programme reduces noise and disturbances during construction work, an essential measure in today’s dense urban environment;
• Tramway maintenance workshops now use renewable energy sources (photovoltaic panels, ground-coupled heat exchangers, etc.);
• The future workshop building for the eastern extension of T3 is in the running for the ADEME’s call for projects for the provision of an energy-efficient building.