SNCF
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SNCF logo |
SNCF (
Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français) (National French Railway Company) is a major
French public enterprise. Its functions include operation of rail services for passengers and freight in France, and maintenance of rail infrastructure owned by
RFF (Réseau Ferré de France). It employs about 180,000 people. The rail network currently consists of about 32,000
km of track, of which 1,500 km is track and 14,500 km is
electrified. About 14,000 trains are operated daily. The current chairman of SNCF is
Anne Marie Idrac. Its headquarters are situated in
Paris, in the Rue du Commandant Mouchotte.
SNCF operates almost all of France's railway system, including the
TGV (
Train à Grande Vitesse, literally "
high-speed train") and some segments of the
RER.
In the past, SNCF owned not only the trains, but also the tracks, but this has changed due to new
European Union regulations. Since
1997 the tracks and other elements of French rail infrastructure have belonged to a separate government establishment, the
; 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.
The SNCF was formed in
1938 following the
nationalisation of France's five main railways. These were the:
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Chemin de Fer de l'Est*
Chemin de Fer de l'État (formed in
1909 following the merging of the
Chemin de Fer de l'État and the
Chemins de Fer de l'Ouest)
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Chemin de Fer du Nord*
Chemin de Fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée (PLM)
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Chemin de Fer de Paris à Orléans et du Midi (PO-Midi, formed in
1934 following the merging of the
Chemin de Fer de Paris à Orléans and the
Chemin de Fer du Midi)
The French state took 51% control 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
On
16 May 2006 the SNCF and the French State were successfully taken to the administrative court for
complicity in crimes against humanity by the
MEP Alain Lipietz, because of their role in tranporting members of his family to the
Drancy deportation camp during
World War II. They were subsequently jointly fined 64,000
euro[A translation of the Judgement of 6 june 2006] Previous similar attempts by others in the civil courts had failed. SNCF argued that they were required to transport
Jews by the
Vichy regime and the
Nazis, and that they had never taken the initiative. However SNCF chose to transport them in
cattle wagons (stock cars) and invoiced the state for
3rd class tickets.
[| year=2006-05-16| accessdate=2006-06-09| work=Le Figaro| }}]Regionalisation
Since (specific date somewhere in the 90'S), SNCF has been selling train cars to regional gouverments in an effort to give trains times and needs more attention.
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A 2nd-generation TGV train (Réseau class) at Marseille St-Charles station. |
SNCF
codeshares with
Air Austral,
Air France,
Air Tahiti Nui,
American Airlines,
Cathay Pacific,
Continental Airlines,
Middle East Airlines,
Qatar Airways and
United Airlines and in exchange, allows passengers on those flights to book rail service between
Charles de Gaulle International 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.
Jacques Chirac, the French
president, pledged in his 2006 New Year Address that by 2026 no SNCF or
RATP train would be powered by fossil fuels.
[The Times, Friday, January 6 2006, p54. France will run trains free from fossil fuel, says Chirac.] This pledge confirms France's commitment to
nuclear power for its energy needs, and already
nuclear power stations generate most of the electricity used to power SNCF's trains.
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History of rail transport in France*
List of French companies*
List of SNCF classes*
TER (train network)*
Transportation in France*
Yellow train*
List of SNCF stations*
SNCF web site*
Map*
SNCF UK web site*
History of SNCF (in French)
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channel tunnel link *
Collection of Google Earth locations of SNCF stations (Requires
Google Earth software) from the Google Earth Community forum
