THE French prime minister, Mr Edouard Philippe announced during a visit to the Bonneuil-sur-Marne freight terminal in southern Paris on April 16 that French National Railways’ (SNCF) loss-making rail freight unit Fret SNCF will be recapitalised and spun off as a separate legal entity, albeit with SNCF retaining 100% of the capital.
VOSSLOH has completed an audit of the track on the 13km light rail network in Le Havre, France, operated by Porte Océane Transport (CTPO), a subsidiary Transdev, to determine its current condition and future maintenance needs.
FRENCH president Mr Emmanuel Macron confirmed in a televised interview on April 15 that the state will “gradually” start to take on the debt of French infrastructure manager SNCF Network within two years.
THE French Council of State has rejected appeals seeking to overturn the Declaration of Public Utility (DUP) authorising the Grand Southwestern Railway Project (GPSO), which will extend the Sud-Europ Atlantique high-speed line from Bordeaux to Toulouse with a branch to Dax.
THE government of Ile-de-France has appointed a committee of experts to evaluate the feasibility of offering public transport services free-of-charge in the area around Paris.
FRANCE’s Ministry of Ecology and the Spanish Development Ministry have invited expressions of interest for the operation of new piggyback services to carry lorry semitrailers between the two countries.
PARIS Transport Authority (RATP) has awarded a €17.6m contract to Ansaldo STS to install communications-based train control (CBTC) on the 14km Line 6 of the Paris metro.
THALYS has announced it is planning to launch new services from Amsterdam to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport and Marne-la-Vallée, the station serving Disneyland Paris, in April 2019.
IRJ at the UIC Global Signalling Conference, Milan: French National Railways (SNCF) says it will be ready to carry out main line trials with Automatic Train Operation (ATO) Grade of Automation 4 (GoA4) prototypes for freight and passenger applications by the end of 2022.
THE merger of Siemens’ mobility business and Alstom reached a milestone on March 23 with the signing of a Business Combination Agreement (BCA) setting out terms and conditions agreed by the two companies for the combination.
