French railway news – Page 32
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NewsFreight restructuring as SNCF reforms push ahead
FRANCE: Visiting the port of Bonneuil-sur-Marne on April 16, Prime Minister Eduard Phillippe, Environment Minister Nicolas Hulot and Transport Minister Elisabeth Borne announced a series of measures to improve the efficiency and competitiveness of SNCF’s rail freight business. The package includes increased support for intermodal transport and a ‘remission’ of ...
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NewsFrench government to order 100 ‘TGVs of the future’
FRANCE: Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has said that the government is to place a firm order with Alstom ‘by the end of June’ for 100 TGV trainsets. He was addressing a press conference on March 22 to update progress on the merger of Siemens Mobility and Alstom. These would ...
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NewsTransdev receives safety approval for French passenger market
FRANCE: Transdev announced on March 12 that its train operating subsidiary CFTA had received a certificate of railway safety. This is a prerequisite for Transdev to enter the main line passenger market as a competitor to national railway SNCF. CFTA already operates two rural passenger services in Bretagne, through a ...
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NewsGovernment spares rural railways but backs Spinetta reforms
FRANCE: In announcing on February 26 his response to the Spinetta review of the state of France’s national railway, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe rejected a proposal to close up to 9 000 route-km of secondary railway. Former Air France-KLM Chief Executive Jean-Cyril Spinetta had issued his wide-ranging report into the ...
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NewsDebt burden tempers SNCF growth in 2017
FRANCE: Announcing its results for 2017 on February 27, SNCF Group reported revenue of €33∙5bn, up 4∙2% on the year before ‘thanks to commercial momentum’ driving strong growth in passenger and freight traffic. Combined with ‘strict financial discipline’ and a cost-cutting programme that generated €830m of savings in 2017, this ...
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NewsTransilien double-deck EMUs ordered
FRANCE: SNCF has placed a firm order for a further nine Bombardier Transportation Regio 2N double-deck electric multiple-units, acting on behalf of greater Paris public transport authority Ile-de-France Mobilités. The order announced on February 19 is worth €96m, including ‘price escalations based on best faith assessment of assumptions’. The ...
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NewsState aid for freight sidings approved
FRANCE: The European Commission has approved the granting of €60m of state aid for the construction, renewal or extension of freight sidings. The European Rail Freight Association welcomed the decision, saying ‘around 50% of the 2 500 to 3 000 sidings are out of service’, and many industries were ‘facing ...
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NewsSpinetta report urges SNCF to prepare for competition
FRANCE: The national railway must refocus on ‘the areas where it has greatest relevance’: transporting large numbers of passengers within urban areas, and providing high speed connectivity between France’s principal cities. This mission statement is at the heart of a landmark report handed to Prime Minister Edouard Philippe on February ...
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NewsCapacity enhancement at hubs is spending priority, says infrastructure council
FRANCE: Enhancing capacity at key rail hubs is one of several priority measures outlined by the Conseil d’Orientation des Infrastructures on February 1. The council was established in September 2017 by Transport Secretary Elisabeth Borne, and its work builds on the conclusions of the Mobilité 21 commission issued in 2014. ...
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NewsRegions recommend flexible approach to TER tendering
FRANCE: Recommendations on the approach that the government should adopt in legislation to allow regional passenger services to be put out to tender were published by the organisation representing regional authorities on January 9. Régions de France had conducted a series of hearings between March and July 2017, taking evidence ...
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NewsSNCF plans TGV efficiency drive to compete with air and bus
FRANCE: National rail operator SNCF is planning to restructure its high speed operations over the next three years to improve fleet utilisation and facilitate the withdrawal of its oldest TGV trainsets. According to the head of Voyages SNCF Rachel Picard, the changes are expected to reduce operating costs by between ...
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NewsBourgogne-Franche-Comté and Grand Est order multiple-units
FRANCE: Firm orders with a total value of €100m covering the supply of 14 more Coradia Polyvalent multiple-units to the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté and Grand Est regions were announced by Alstom on January 8. Bourgogne-Franche-Comté has ordered eight four-car electric multiple-units, known as Régiolis by SNCF, while Grand Est has opted for ...
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NewsCentre-Val de Loire orders double-deck TET trainsets
FRANCE: The Centre-Val de Loire region has ordered a fleet of 32 double-deck EMUs from Bombardier to operate 200 km/h inter-city services on three TET routes. The Omneo Premium trainsets are expected to enter service from 2020, with all in traffic by 2022. Placed by SNCF Mobilités on behalf of ...
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NewsNîmes – Montpellier bypass carries first freight
FRANCE: A pair of Class 27000 Alstom Prima dual-voltage freight locomotives hauled the first commercial freight train over the Contournement Nîmes – Montpellier on December 10. The 60 km bypass line has been built by contractor Oc’Via under a 25-year concession starting in 2012. Test trains were diagrammed over the ...
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NewsSNCF relaunches web distribution portal as oui.sncf
FRANCE: Described as ‘a new shop window’, the voyages-sncf.com website was rebranded as ‘oui.sncf’ on December 6. The rebranding marks the third and final pillar in SNCF’s revamp of its passenger operations, which has also seen its TGV business marketed under the premium Inoui brand and the low-cost offering Ouigo. ...
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NewsSNCF orders prototype EMU and tram-train traction transformers
FRANCE: National railway SNCF has awarded Mitsubishi Electric Corp a contract to supply prototype traction transformers for Z2N double-deck electric multiple-units used on Paris commuter services and Siemens Avanto tram-trains operating on route T4. The order follows on from Mitsubishi Electric becoming the first Japanese company to be certified by ...
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NewsContainers by rail from China to France
INTERNATIONAL: For its customer PSA, Gefco has operated its first trainload of 40 ft containers between Wuhan in China and Dourges in northern France. Having departed on November 3, the train arrived in Dourges on November 22. Operating via Kazakstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany, the service was handled by ...
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NewsRail market share falling in France, says regulator
FRANCE: In a report on rail passenger services covering 2015 and 2016, regulatory body Arafer found that rail’s market share had fallen by an average of 0·5% a year since 2011, whereas that of other modes had increased. Published on November 16, the report said that rail had a 9·2% ...
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NewsGroupe Eurotunnel rebrands as Getlink
EUROPE: Channel Tunnel concessionaire Groupe Eurotunnel changed its name to Getlink with effect from November 20, saying the new brand reflected ‘the dynamism of connection and exchange’. Getlink is the parent company for four brands: Channel Tunnel operator Eurotunnel, French private rail freight operator Europorte, railway training centre CIFFCO, and ...
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NewsSurferlab to develop augmented vehicle technology
FRANCE: On October 25 Bombardier Transportation, Prosyst and the University of Valenciennes & Hainaut-Cambrésis inaugurated Surferlab, a joint facility which will develop embedded digital technology for safer and more intelligent rail, road, air and maritime transport. The three priority areas for Surferlab are connected and predictive maintenance, artificial intelligence, and ...