SNCF

Société Nationale des Chemins de fer français
Locale	France
Predecessor	See SNCF History
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Length	32,000 km (20,000 mi)
Headquarters	Montparnasse and 14th arrondissement, Paris
Website	sncf.com/en_EN/flash/

SNCF (Société Nationale des Chemins de fer français, French National Railway Corporation) is a French public enterprise. Its functions include operation of rail services for passengers and freight, and maintenance and signalling of rail infrastructure owned by Réseau Ferré de France (RFF). It employs about 180,000 people. The rail network consists of about 32,000 km (20,000 mi) of route, of which 1,800 km (1,100 mi) is high-speed line and 14,500 km (9,000 mi) electrified. About 14,000 trains are operated daily. The chairman of SNCF is Guillaume Pépy. Its headquarters are in the 14th arrondissement of Paris, in the Rue du Commandant Mouchotte.^[1]

In 2007, SNCF generated profits of €1.1 billion (approximately US$1.75bn or £875m).^[2][3]

Business scope

A 2nd-generation TGV Réseau train at Marseilles St-Charles station.

An SNCF Transport Express Régional train.

SNCF operates almost all of France's railway system, including the TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse, meaning "High-Speed Train"), Paris's Transilien suburban rail network, and some segments of the RER (Réseau Express Régional, "Regional Express Network"), another suburban rail system serving Paris.

In the past SNCF also owned the tracks, but this has changed due to EU Directive 91/440. Since 1997 the tracks and other rail infrastructure have belonged to a separate government establishment, Réseau Ferré de France; this change was intended to open the market to independent train operating companies, although few have yet appeared. There have been claims that this is mainly due to very restrictive regulations that are allegedly motivated by protectionism. For example, the licensing procedure for the multi-system ICE3M took four years, while the same train was allowed onto tracks in the Netherlands and Belgium within a year of its introduction.

History

SNCF was formed in 1938 on the nationalisation of France's five main railways (Chemin de Fer in English means railway, literally, 'path of iron'). These were the:

• Chemin de Fer de l'Est (Eastern Railway)
• Chemin de Fer de l'État (State Railway) (formed in 1909 from the merger of the Chemin de Fer de l'État and the Chemins de Fer de l'Ouest)
• Chemin de Fer du Nord (Northern Railway)
• Chemin de Fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée (PLM) (Paris, Lyon and Mediterranean Railway)
• Chemin de Fer de Paris à Orléans et du Midi (Paris, Orléans, and Central Railway) (PO-Midi, formed in 1934 from the merger of the Chemin de Fer de Paris à Orléans and the Chemin de Fer du Midi)

The French state took 51% ownership of SNCF and has since put large amounts of public subsidies into the system. In the 1970s, SNCF began the TGV high speed train programme with the intention of creating the world's fastest railway network. It came to fruition in 1981, when the first TGV service, from Paris to Lyon, was inaugurated. TGV lines and the TGV technology have since spread to several other European countries plus South Korea.

Role during World War II

Between 1942 and 1945, SNCF transported nearly 77,000 Jews and other Holocaust victims from France to Nazi camps.^[4] During this time hundreds of SNCF railway workers, acting against SNCF management, performed many acts of resistance. ^[5] Nearly 2,000 SNCF railway workers were eventually killed for resisting Nazi orders.

SNCF, alone among the major European and Japanese rail companies, voluntarily took efforts to account for its war-time history. In 1992, SNCF and the National Research Institute commissioned the noted historian Christian Bachelier to study the issue. In 2000, Bachelier and his team released a 914- page examination of SNCF’s war-time activities.

In 2001, SNCF was sued by the father of MEP Alain Lipietz, because of the railroad’s role in transporting members of his family to the Drancy deportation camp during World War II. In 2006 the administrative court in Toulouse found SNCF guilty of aiding in deportations ^[6][7]and awarded a 20,000 euro settlement, but the judgment was appealed. SNCF supplied evidence showing that its actions were the result of requisitions by the occupying German forces under the terms of the 1940 Armistice, and that employees of the Deutsche Reichsbahn oversaw major facilities and operations. ^[8] SNCF was cleared in 2007 by the Bordeaux appeal court, which agreed that it had been operating under orders and had not autonomously made the decisions pertaining to deportation trains. .^[9]

In June 2010, a California legislator introduced AB 619, seeking to require companies involved in transporting Holocaust victims to disclose their war-time actions before bidding on California rail projects. SNCF supports the legislation.^[10]

Modern day

Part of the record-breaking V150 unit being sailed in triumph down the Seine for display at the foot of the Eiffel Tower

Since the 1990s, SNCF has been selling railway carriages to regional governments, with the creation of the Transport Express Régional brand.

Jacques Chirac, then French president, pledged in his 2006 New Year Address that by 2026 no SNCF or RATP train would be powered by fossil fuels.^[11] This pledge confirms France's commitment to nuclear power for its energy needs. Nuclear power stations already generate most of the electricity used to power SNCF trains.

SNCF's TGV has set many world speed records, the most recent on April 3, 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, broke the world speed record for conventional rail trains, reaching 574.8 km/h (357.2 mph).^[12]

Codeshare with airlines

SNCF codeshares with Air Austral, Air France, Air Tahiti Nui, American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Continental Airlines, Middle East Airlines, Emirates Airline, Qatar Airways and United Airlines and in exchange, allows passengers on those flights to book rail service between Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport in Roissy (near Paris) and Aix-en-Provence, Angers, Avignon, Bordeaux, Le Mans, Lille, Lyon Part-Dieu, Marseilles, Montpellier, Nantes, Nimes, Poiters, Rennes, Tours, and Valence with their airline. The IATA designator used by airlines in connection with these journeys is 2C.

Company structure and subsidiaries

Divisions

As of 2010 SNCF is divided into five groups^[13]:

• SNCF Infra 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 Proximités is responsible for urban, commuter and regional passenger transport. Constituent parts include TER, Transilien and Intercités (formerly Corail intercités) as well as subsidiaries including Keolis
• SNCF Voyages is responsible for long distance and high speed passenger services. Constituent parts include TGV and Téoz as well as subsidiaries including Eurostar, Thalys, Lyria and iDTGV
• SNCF Geodis is the rail freight and general freight logistics section of SNCF, including Fret SNCF and other European rail freight companies (since 2010 collected under the brand Captrain^[14]), as well as rail-freight stock management companies including France Wagons and Ermewa.
• Gares & Connections was created in April 2009 for station management, land management, and land development. The division manages 3000 stations in France, as well as other activities through Groupe AREP (Civil engineering), Groupe A2C (real estate management) and Parvis.

Subsidiaries

SNCF has full or partial shares in a large number of companies, the majority of which are rail or transport related. These include:^[15]

• 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, Compagnie Nationale 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%)

• Keolis (44.5%)
  • Govia (15.84%)
• EFFIA (99.99%)

Passenger transport

• Thalys International (70%)
• Eurostar Group Ltd (62%)
• Lyria (74 %)
• Elipsos International (50%)
• Artésia (50%)
• SeaFrance (100 %)
• Rhealys SA (30%)
• iDTGV (100%)
• Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori (20%)^[16]

Tickets

• Voyages-sncf.com (50,1%), the on-line travel agency of the SNCF
• Rail Europe (50%)
• GLe-trade

Consulting

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

Housing

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

Head office

SNCF head office

SNCF has its head office in the Montparnasse area of the 14th arrondissement of Paris,^[17] located near the Gare Montparnasse.^[18]

SNCF used to have its head office in the Saint-Lazare area of the 9th arrondissement.^[18][19] In 1996 the president of SNCF, Louis Gallois, announced that SNCF would move its headquarters to a new location during the middle of 1997.^[20]

See also

• History of rail transport in France
• List of French companies
• List of SNCF locomotive and multiple-unit classes
• Transport express régional
• Corail (train)
• Transport in France
• List of SNCF stations

References

External links

• (English) SNCF web site
• (French)/(German) SNCF web site
• SNCF UK web site
• Map
• (French) History of SNCF
• Collection of Google Earth locations of SNCF stations (Requires Google Earth software) from the Google Earth Community forum