The MF 67 is a fleet of steel-wheel electric multiple unit trains for the Paris Métro. The first MF 67 trains entered service on Line 3 in June 1968, and became one of the biggest orders for the Métro, with 1,482 cars constructed. The need to replace the Sprague-Thomson fleet, as well as increasing costs associated with the later-cancelled plan to introduce rubber-tyred trains on all Métro lines, were the main factors for the size of the order. At its peak, during the late-1980s and the early-1990s, the MF 67 operated on eight of the fifteen Métro lines : the MF 67 also operated on Lines 7, 8 and 13, all before the introduction of the MF 77 in 1978. Many of the MF 67 trains have been removed from service: throughout 1994, the MF 88 displaced the MF 67 from Line 7bis, and from 2008 to 2016, the MF 01 replaced the MF 67 on Lines 2, 5, and 9. The MF 67 remains in service on Lines 3, 3bis, 10 and 12, where the Île-de-France Mobilités intends to replace the remaining MF 67 trains with new trains provisionally known as the MF 19.
Conception
It was originally envisioned by the RATP to convert all Metro lines to rubber-tyred pneumatic operation. However, this plan was later abandoned due to high costs, which in turn, would have prolonged the service of the aging Sprague-Thomson trainsets to 80 years. Therefore, a new class of steel-wheel rolling stock was developed. During the development phase, the MF 67 was known as the MF 65.
Series
The MF 67 actually comprises seven different series; however, two series of these trains were prototypes.
Series A : 200 cars were delivered to Lines 3 and 9 between 1967–1969
*One train in this series was the Zébulon, a stainless-steel prototype that never saw passenger service. It was used as a training train for many years, until it succumbed to heavy vandalism in 2010. All cars except for one driving car were scrapped as of 2011.
Series B : 6 cars were delivered in 1968 as prototype trains that never saw commercial service.
Series C : 340 cars delivered to Lines 3 and 7 between 1972 and 1975.
Series CX : 16 prototype cars that were fitted with "plug" type door openers, similar to that of the MF 77. These ran on Line 9.
Series D: 363 cars that were originally deployed to Lines 3, 5, and 9 between 1973 and 1975. They now operate on Lines 3, 3bis, 10, and 12.
Series E : 56 trains that were originally deployed to Lines 2, 7bis, and 8 between 1974 and 1976. Many trains were replaced by the MF 01 cars between 2009 and 2011, though some were displaced much earlier by the MF 88 cars to Line 10. The trains operating on Line 10 were retired between 2014 and 2016. Five trains were retained for training in the USFRT tunnel, replacing the Zebulon, but they were retired in 2017.
Series F : 51 trains that were originally deployed to Lines 7 and 13 between 1975 and 1978. They were redeployed to Line 5. Despite being the youngest series, they have suffered from excessive wear and tear, as well as weather impacts sustained from being stored in the outdoor Bobigny depot. They were replaced by the MF 01 cars between 2011 and 2013.
Currently, the RATP uses a string of MF-67 "Auteuil Convoy" trains, to supply the Auteuil and Vaugirard Depots, these trains are colored yellow and brown and serve as auxiliary equipment of the work of the RATP. They replaced the aging tractor variants of the Sprague-Thomson.
