Corail Driving Trailer (B5uxh)

Updated: August 2026 – A driving cab at the front, a completely normal gangway at the rear, and no pantograph on the roof: anyone seeing a Corail driving trailer for the first time could easily mistake it for a locomotive. This page explains why it isn’t one, how the push-pull principle behind it works, and how to read the classification code B5uxh.

What is the Corail driving trailer B5uxh?

The Corail driving trailer is a passenger coach with a driving cab but no traction of its own. It runs at the end of a locomotive-hauled train and lets the train be controlled from that cab while the locomotive at the other end pushes. The vehicle belongs to the Corail family – the passenger coach design that set the standard for French long-distance services from the 1970s onwards.

The designation B5uxh is not a class name but a classification code under the coach system of SNCF. Such codes describe what the coach is and can do: the capital letter names the coach class, the digit its internal layout, and the attached lower-case letters record construction and equipment features. Under the internationally used UIC convention, B denotes second class – an A at the start would indicate first class, an AB a mixed-class coach.

That also places the vehicle within the wider system: in France, locomotives carry codes built from axle arrangement and use, such as BB or CC, electric multiple units start with Z, diesel railcars with X, and the high-speed trains run under the TGV brand. Passenger coaches, by contrast, get classification codes like B5uxh.

Push-pull operation: why a coach needs a driving cab

A classic locomotive-hauled train has a problem: at the terminus, the locomotive ends up at the wrong end. It has to be uncoupled, run round and recoupled at the other end. That costs time, staff and a free shunting track within the infrastructure of SNCF Réseau. At a terminal station such as Paris Gare de Lyon, this effort is needed at every reversal – and that’s exactly where the driving trailer pays off.

The driving trailer remains a fully-fledged passenger coach throughout: seats continue right behind the driving cab. That’s exactly what sets it apart from a driving power car, which contains nothing but traction equipment. For how to systematically work through such design differences when identifying vehicles, see the guide to identifying classes.

Driving trailer, locomotive or railcar? Sorting them out in railway operation

The three vehicle types look similar from the front but behave completely differently in service. This overview helps with sorting them out.

Feature	Driving trailer	Locomotive	Railcar / multiple unit
Own traction	no	yes	yes
Passenger seats	yes	no	yes
Driving cab	at one end	at both ends	at both ends
Pantograph or exhaust system	no	yes	yes
Can run alone	no	yes	yes
Often logged in sightings	rarely	almost always	often

For observation this means: a driving trailer at the front of a train is a strong hint that a locomotive is pushing at the other end. So anyone who only photographs the front misses half the information. On the long platforms of Marseille Saint-Charles you can get both ends of the train without rushing. Conversely: if a train has a locomotive at the front and a vehicle with driving-cab windows at the rear, it’s running as a push-pull set.

It’s also worth not reading the driving trailer as a stopgap, but as a deliberate choice. Push-pull operation lets expensive locomotives and cheap coaches be procured – and replaced – independently of one another. If a route needs more seats, you add coaches; if a stronger locomotive becomes available, you swap only the locomotive. A multiple unit doesn’t offer that flexibility – but it saves on shunting staff and coupling moves. Both concepts therefore still exist side by side today, and which one is used where depends on the type of service, not the build year.

Comparable concepts exist all across Europe. In Germany, for instance, the double-deck driving trailers of class DBpbzfa 761/765/766 do the same job, as do the ÖBB CityShuttle driving trailers in Austria and the IC2000 driving trailers in Switzerland. The principle is identical, only the design differs.

Spotting and photography: framing the driving trailer properly

Driving trailers are photographically ungrateful if you treat them like a locomotive. A few adjustments help.

For which shutter speeds, viewpoints and light conditions actually work, see the guide to taking good photos of trains. To identify a vehicle beyond doubt you’ll ultimately need the twelve-digit vehicle number – how it’s structured and where the French country code 87 sits within it is explained in the article on reading the UIC number and its check digit. And because access to railway premises is clearly regulated, it’s worth checking the rules on safe distance from the track beforehand.

Common mix-ups

Verdict

The Corail driving trailer is a good example of why you shouldn’t sort vehicles by first impression alone. It looks like a traction vehicle but is actually a coach – and that’s exactly why the push-pull operation it was built for works. Check the roof, the bogies and the other end of the train, and you’ll never get it wrong. And if you note down the number on the side wall, you’ll end up with more than just “saw a push-pull set”.