SNCF

A high-speed train TGV Duplex from the SNCF

TGV 4402 operation V150 reaching 574 km/h (357 mph) on 3 April 2007 near Le Chemin

SNCF operates almost all of France's railway traffic, including the TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse, meaning "high-speed train"). In the 1970s, the SNCF began the TGV high-speed train program with the intention of creating the world's fastest railway network. It came to fruition in 1981 with the completion of the first high-speed line LGV Sud-Est ("Ligne à Grande Vitesse Sud-Est", meaning "southeast high-speed line"), where the first TGV service, from Paris to Lyon, was inaugurated. Today, the SNCF operates 1,850 km (1,150 mi) of designated high-speed track that accommodate more than 800 high-speed services per day. SNCF's TGV trains carry more than 100 million passengers a year. TGV lines and TGV technology are now spread across several European countries.

The SNCF's TGV has set many world speed records, the most recent on 3 April 2007, when a new version of the TGV dubbed the V150 with larger wheels than the usual TGV, was able to cover more ground with each rotation and had a stronger 25,000 hp (18,600 kW) engine, and broke the world speed record for conventional railway trains, reaching 574.8 km/h (357.2 mph).

The SNCF has a remarkable safety record. After nearly 30 years in operation, SNCF's TGV system has only experienced one fatal accident, which occurred during pre-opening testing and not in regular operation.

In 2011 SNCF in partnership with Keolis, unsuccessfully bid for the InterCity West Coast franchise.[6] In April 2017 SNCF took a 30% shareholding in a joint venture with Stagecoach Group and Virgin Group to bid for the West Coast Partnership that will operate services on the West Coast Main Line from May 2020 and the High Speed 2 line from 2026.[7][8]

In April 2019 Stagecoach were banned from bidding for any franchises including the West Coast Partnership which has meant that Virgin and SNCF have now had to withdraw from the shortlist.

Since the 1990s, SNCF has been selling railway carriages to regional governments, with the creation of the Train Express Régional brand. SNCF also maintains a broad scope of international business that includes work on freight lines, inter-city lines and commuter lines. SNCF experts provide logistics, design, construction, operations and maintenance services. SNCF operates the international ticketing agency Oui.sncf, formerly Voyages-sncf.com and Rail Europe.

SNCF has employees in 120 countries offering extensive overseas and cross border consulting. Those projects include:

• Israel: Assistance and Training. SNCF International provides assistance to Israel Railways in every area of rail operations including projects to upgrade the network's general safety regulations. Other assistance and training programmes involve Infrastructure and the Traction Division.
• Taiwan: Operations Training. SNCF supervised the prime contractor responsible for construction of the Taiwan Railways Administration's main high-speed rail line. It also trained rail traffic controllers, drivers, and crew members. On behalf of the Government of Taiwan, SNCF managed the high-speed railway Command Control Centre.
• United Kingdom: Maintenance. In 2007–2008, SNCF-International consultants audited the maintenance practices applied to the track, signalling and overhead electric power line on British high-speed rail lines connecting London to the Channel Tunnel. In addition, it conducted an audit of the maintainer's performance from the service quality and cost control standpoint, made recommendations for improvements, and proposed a three-year Business Plan.
• South Korea: HSR Electrification Design. SNCF advised Korean Railroads on the electrification of tracks between Daegu and Busan and on linking existing conventional tracks to the new high-speed line. SNCF also assisted in selecting and inspecting high-speed rolling stock and trained 400 senior manager, engineers, and executives in a broad range of skills, including signalling, catenaries, track, rolling stock maintenance, HSR operation, safety management, marketing, and passenger information systems. Until the end of 2009, SNCF assisted Korea in maintaining its high-speed.
• Spain: Signalling System. SNCF partnered with ADIF (Spanish railway infrastructure provider) in the study, supply, installation, and maintenance of the standard EU railway signaling system along the Madrid-Lleida high-speed line. On behalf of the Spanish Government, SNCF designed and led maintenance operations on this line over a two-year period.
• France: Lead Infrastructure and Rolling Stock Maintainer – The SNCF maintains 32,000 km (20,000 mi) of track, 26,500 main sets of points and crossings, 2,300 signal boxes, 80,000 track circuits, over 1 million relays, etc. It also maintains 3,900 locomotives and 500 high-speed trains. Each of SNCF's TGV trains travels more than 39,000 km (24,000 mi) a month – enough to circle the globe. Each year SNCF's Human Resources Department provides over 1.2 million hours of training to its over 25,000 employees.

Following the 1940 Armistice and until August 1944, SNCF was requisitioned for the transport of German armed forces and armaments. The invading German troops were responsible for the destruction of nearly 350 French railway bridges and tunnels. According to differing estimates, SNCF surrendered between 125,000-213,000 wagons and 1,000-2,000 locomotives.[9][10]

France's railway infrastructure and rolling stocks were a target for the French Resistance aimed at disrupting and fighting the German occupying forces.[11][12] This allowed SNCF employees to perform many acts of resistance,[13] including the formation of the Résistance-Fer movement in 1943. Nearly 1,700 SNCF railway workers were killed or deported for resisting Nazi orders.[14][15] 150 Résistance-Fer agents were shot for their acts of resistance, 500 of them were deported. Half of those deported died in concentration camps.[16]

German occupying forces in France also requisitioned SNCF to transport nearly 77,000 Jews and other Holocaust victims to Nazi extermination camps.[17][18] These deportations have been the subject of historical controversy and lawsuits (such as the Lipietz case) in France as well as in the United States (where subsidiary Keolis is a transportation contractor) to the present day.[15][19]

In 1992 SNCF commissioned French academics to write a history of SNCF activities during World War II. The resultant report was published in 1996.[20][21]

More recently, some sources have claimed that SNCF billed Nazi-occupied France for third-class tickets for Holocaust victims transported to extermination camps,[22][23] although passengers were transported in cattle cars.[24] Other sources have reported that after the liberation of France SNCF continued to seek payment for transporting Holocaust victims to Germany.[22][25] However, historian Michael Marrus has written that claims that SNCF billed for third-class tickets and continued to seek payment after the war ended were made as part of a legal case brought against SNCF, and did not match with historians' understanding of what happened. Marrus argues that SNCF had no margin of maneuver during the German occupation and that the actions of SNCF employees were not ideologically motivated.[18] According to Serge Klarsfeld, president of the organization Sons and Daughters of Jewish Deportees from France, SNCF was forced by German and Vichy authorities to cooperate in providing transport for French Jews to the border and did not make any profit from this transport.[26]

In December 2014, SNCF agreed to pay up to $60 million worth of compensation to Holocaust survivors in the United States.[27] It corresponds to approximately $100,000 per survivor.[28]

On 1 January 2015, Réseau ferré de France (RFF) merged with SNCF Infra and the Direction de la circulation ferroviaire (DCF) and became SNCF Réseau, the operational assets of SNCF became SNCF Mobilités, and both groups were placed under the control of SNCF.

A "broken nose" style of SNCF electric locomotive (BB 15000) designed by Paul Arzens

The industrial designer Paul Arzens styled many of SNCF's locomotives from the 1940s until the 1970s. A particularly distinctive type is the "broken nose" style of electric and diesel locomotives.

A SNCF TER Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur train in Carpentras

SNCF is recognized as a leader in eco-mobility with a commitment to become the world's first operator to offer carbon neutral travel at no extra cost to travelers. SNCF has cut emissions on its cross-channel Paris to London route by 31% in two years by using more electricity from non-fossil fuel sources. SNCF's 39 manufacturing facilities are in the process of “going green” and 9 sites are already ISO 14000 certified. SNCF developed an interactive website to help travelers calculate the environmental impact of their travel choices.

In May 2014, the company had discovered that 2,000 new trains they ordered at a cost of 15 billion euros are too wide for many of France's regional platforms, Construction work has already started to reconfigure them.[29]

In 2015 the company also discovered that the new trains were too tall to use the Italian tunnels along the Riviera coastline route, so the trains have to end at the French/Italian border and transfer passengers to a smaller train.[30]

Current head office in Saint-Denis

The SNCF's former headquarters in the Montparnasse neighborhood

Since July 2013, the SNCF headquarters are located in the Parisian suburb of Saint-Denis at 2, place aux Étoiles, 93200 Saint Denis.[32] The move was motivated by cutting operating costs by 10 million euros per year.[33]

From 1999 to 2013, SNCF's headquarters were located in the Montparnasse neighborhood of the 14th arrondissement of Paris,[34] located near the Gare Montparnasse.[35]

Prior to 1999, the SNCF's historic headquarters was located at 88 Rue Saint-Lazare in the 9th arrondissement.[35][36] In 1996 the chairman of SNCF, Louis Gallois, announced that SNCF would move its headquarters to a new location during the middle of 1997.[37]

Since 1 January 2015 SNCF consists of three divisions:

• SNCF Réseau is the infrastructure division of SNCF, and carries out track and other infrastructure maintenance, design and construction. Subsidiaries in the group include Systra, Inexia and SNCF International.
• SNCF Mobilités is the transport division of SNCF, tasked with the operation of passenger and goods trains. It comprises three branches of activity:
  • SNCF Voyages is responsible for passenger transport. Constituent parts include TGV, TER, Transilien and Intercités (formerly Corail Intercités, Lunéa and Téoz).
  • Keolis is responsible for urban transport (tramways, bus networks).
  • SNCF Logistics is the rail and general freight logistics section of SNCF, including Fret SNCF, VFLI and other European rail freight companies (since 2010 collected under the brand Captrain[38]), as well as rail-freight stock management companies including France Wagons and Ermewa.
• SNCF Immobilier is responsible for the stations' maintenance.

A SNCF ticket machine at the Épône-Mézières station

SNCF has full or partial shares in a large number of companies, the majority of which are rail or transport related. These include:[39]

• Geodis (100%)
• ERMEWA (100%)
• France Wagons (100%)
• SGW : Société de Gérance de Wagons (67.5%)
• CTC : Compagnie des Transports Céréaliers (69.36%)
• SEGI (98.96%)
• Naviland Cargo (94.37%) previously CNC Transports, Compagnie Nouvelle de Conteneurs.

General freight transport:

• C-Modalohr Express (51%)
• Novatrans (38.25%)
• Districhrono (100%)
• Ecorail (99.9%)
• Froidcombi (48.93%)
• Rouch Intermodal (98.96%)
• Sefergie (98.96%)
• EFFIA (99.99%)

Passenger transport

• Thalys International (70%)
• Eurostar International (55%)[40]
• Lyria (74%)
• Elipsos International (50%)
• Artésia (50%)
• SeaFrance (100%) Sold to Eurotunnel.
• Rhealys SA (30%)
• Keolis (70%)[41]
• Govia (24.5%)[42]
• iDTGV (100%)
• Ouigo (100%)
• Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori (20%)[43]

Tickets

• Oui.sncf (50.1%), the on-line travel agency of SNCF
• Rail Europe, Inc. (50%) Bought from British Rail.
• GLe-trade

Consulting

• AREP (99.99%)
• SNCF International (100%)
• Inexia
• Systra (35.87%): engineering for public transport

Housing

• ICF Habitat Novedis (100%): rental housing (social and private housing)