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), is the French National Railroad, which owns and operates France’s TGV, the country’s premier high-speed rail network. SNCF is a driving force behind Europe’s high speed rail industry and a global leader in design, construction and operation of high speed rail systems throughout the world. Its functions include operation of rail services for passengers and freight, and maintenance and signaling of rail infrastructure owned by Réseau Ferré de France (RFF).

SNCF employs more than 180,000 people in 120 countries across the globe. The rail network consists of about 32,000 km (20,000 mi) of route, of which 1,800 km (1,100 mi) are high-speed lines 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]

Contents 1 Business scope 1.1 High-speed rail 1.2 SNCF operations 2 History 2.1 Role during World War II 2.2 Modern day 3 Codeshare with airlines 4 Company structure and subsidiaries 4.1 Divisions 4.2 Subsidiaries 5 Head office 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Business scope

[edit] High-speed rail

SNCF operates almost all of France's railway system, including the TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse, meaning "High-Speed Train"), In the 1970s, 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, when the first TGV service, from Paris to Lyon, was inaugurated. Today, SNCF operates than 1,100 miles of designated high-speed track that accommodate more than 800 high-speed trains 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 in addition to South Korea.

In the past SNCF also owned the European 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.

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).

SNCF has a remarkable safety record. After nearly 30-years in operation, SNCF’s TGV system has never experienced a fatal accident.

[edit] SNCF operations

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 commute lines. SNCF experts provide logistics, design, construction, operations and maintenance services. SNCF operates the international ticketing agency, 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 programs 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 rail Command Control Center.

• United Kingdom: Maintenance. In 2007-2008, SNCF-International consultants audited the maintenance practices applied to the track, signaling 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 Railroad on the electrification of track between Daegu and Busan and on linking existing conventional track 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 signaling, catenaries, track, rolling stock maintenance, HSR operation, safety management, marketing, and passenger information systems. Until the end of 2009, SNCF have assisted Korea in maintaining its high-speed.

• Spain: Signaling System. SNCF partnered with the Spanish railroad infrastructure manager in the study, supply, installation, and maintenance of the standard EU rail signaling system along the Madrid-Lerida high-speed rail 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 scope of SNCF’s maintenance duties is staggering: it maintains 31,000 miles of track, 26,500 main sets of points and crossings, 2,300 signal boxes, 80,000 track circuits, over 1 million relays, etc. On the rolling stock side, SNCF maintains 3,900 locomotives and 500 high-speed trains. Each of SNCF’s TGV trains travels more than 24,000 miles 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.

[edit] 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 originally took 51% ownership of SNCF and invested large amounts of public subsidies into the system. Today, SNCF is 100% owned by the French government.

[edit] Role during World War II

Nazi occupying forces seized control of SNCF during World War II and forced the railway operator to follow the strict orders of Germany’s military transport division. Known as Wehrmacht Verkehrsdirection, or W.V.D., the Nazi military transport division threatened SNCF railway workers and their families with execution if they did not comply with the German military’s orders. Between 1942 and 1945, the German occupying forces requisitioned SNCF trains to transport nearly 77,000^[2] Jews and other Holocaust victims from France to Nazi camps. During this time hundreds of SNCF railway workers performed many acts of resistance. ^[3] Nearly 2,000 SNCF railway workers were eventually killed for resisting Nazi orders. After the war ended in 1945, the French government established a series of war-time reparations programs to assist victims of the Holocaust. Since then, France has given Holocaust survivors and their families more than half-a-billion dollars in reparations and continues to offer reparations to this day. The French government has also contributed about $500 (M) million dollars to charitable programs that support Holocaust education and Holocaust memorials, including funding the Foundation for the Memory of the Shoah. 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 of academics publically released a 914- page report (plus two volumes of appendixes), providing an exhaustive self-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 ^[4][5]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. ^[6] 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. .^[7]

In June 2010, a California politician 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. ^[8]

[edit] Modern day

SNCF is a recognized 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.

[edit] 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.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Company structure and subsidiaries

[edit] Divisions

As of 2010 SNCF is divided into five groups^[9]:

• 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^[10]), 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.

[edit] Subsidiaries

SNCF has full or partial shares in a large number of companies, the majority of which are rail or transport related. These include:^[11]

• 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%)^[12]

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)

[edit] Head office

SNCF has its head office in the Montparnasse area of the 14th arrondissement of Paris,^[13] located near the Gare Montparnasse.^[14]

SNCF used to have its head office in the Saint-Lazare area of the 9th arrondissement.^[14][15] In 1996 the president of SNCF, Louis Gallois, announced that SNCF would move its headquarters to a new location during the middle of 1997.^[16]

[edit] 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

[edit] References

[edit] 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