THE French Senate voted by a large majority on June 5 in favour of the new railway bill to reform French National Railways (SNCF), allow open-access passenger operation, end restrictive working practices, and put SNCF on a sound financial footing.

FRENCH prime minister Mr Édouard Philippe confirmed at a press conference at the Hôtel de Matignon in Paris on May 25 that the state will take on €35bn of French National Railways’ (SNCF) €47bn debt if unions allow the administration of president Emanuel Macron to move forwards with its rail reform programme.

A financing agreement committing €116.9m in EU funding towards the deployment of ERTMS on the Paris - Lyon high-speed line was presented to French transport minister, Ms Elisabeth Borne, by European Transport Commissioner, Ms Violeta Bulc, at the TEN-T Days event in Ljubljana on April 25.

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.

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.

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.

FRANCE’s minister of economy and finance Mr Bruno Le Maire confirmed on March 22 that French National Railways (SNCF) will place an order for 100 next-generation TGVs with Alstom within the next three months.

THELLO, the French subsidiary of Trenitalia, has announced plans to launch high-speed services in France in direct competition with French National Railways (SNCF).

FRENCH National Railways (SNCF) says it achieved a marked improvement in its commercial and business performance in 2017, but revenues remain “insufficient” due to the huge debts of SNCF Network, which rose a further €1.7bn to €46.6bn.