Population: 66,641 million inhabitants – Administrative language: French.
Political capital: Paris
Political system: France is a semi-presidential republic whose head of government – the Prime Minister – is appointed by the President – the Head of State – who is elected by direct universal suffrage. France is made up of 18 administrative regions: 13 metropolitan regions (the European territory of France or “metropolitan France”) and 5 overseas regions. Strasbourg, in France, is one of the three official seats of the European institutions, the other two being Brussels and Luxembourg.
A member of the European Union (1958), the euro zone (1995) and the Schengen area (1999).
Brief rail characteristics:
• UIC code : 87
• Main track gauge: 1,435mm
• Main electrification: 1500V DC, 25kV AC
• High Speed > V250 : yes
Rail transport
• History of rail in France
• Details of institutional organisation
• French rail news highlights
Notified bodies
• Regulation : Autorité de régulation des transports (ART)
• Security : Établissement public de sécurité ferroviaire (EPSF)
Public transport
• National / local and regional authorities
The 10 top ranking cities:
• Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Nantes, Toulon, Douai-Lens
Organisation of rail transport in France
Manager of the main railway network
SNCF Réseau, a subsidiary of the public SNCF group.
Main historical railway company
Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer français (SNCF) since 1938
SA (Société anonyme – translation from Ltd) under public law since 2020 – Group divided into subsidiaries
Liberalisation (depends on the legal scope given to it)
TGV traffic generally unsubsidised (except certain regional sections)
National mainline passenger traffic: 3 operators in 2024
National regional and local passenger traffic: SNCF – new entrants to come
Freight traffic: dismantling of Fret SNCF (following problems with European rules) + several independent operators
Mainline and international train services
Non-subsidised mainline trains: Renfe, Iryo, Ouigo España
Non-subsidised brands: Inoui, Ouigo, Ouigo Classique, Eurostar (now merged with Thalys) and Lyria
International cooperative traffic: Paris-Grand Est-South Germany
Subsidised mainline trains: a few TET (Train d’équilibre du Territroire) and a handful of night trains
Alternative mainline operators
Trenitalia on Paris-Lyon-Milan since December 2021 and Renfe on Madrid-Barcelone-Lyon/Marseilles routes since July 2023.
3 future projects: Le Train, Ilisto and Proxima (temporary name)
Local / regional train services
Responsibility of the French Regions with a dedicated budgetoperators
Regional trains called TER (Train Express Regional), mainly managed by SNCF
Tendered service since 2020 – Choice of operator(s)
RER (Réseau Express Régional) in Paris
Other local and regional operators
Calls for tender underway – Transdev on Marseilles-Nice from December 2025.
Freight train services
Fret SNCF was the incumbent operator, but is being dismantled following problems with European rules on state aid. A new company will be created.
Alternative rail freight operators
Some private rail freight operators.
Bus / lightrail / metro
The regions are responsible for programming, planning and supervising their public transport, as are the major cities.
Glossary of rail transport in France
Infrastructure
◼ Main network manager:
• SNCF Réseau
• 27,870km of lines
• 16,067km of electrified lines
• HSL> 250km/h : 2.157 km
◼ Others secondary network managers:
• —
◼ Passenger stations :
• 2,800 (Gare & Connexion)
• La filiale Gare & Connexion
◼ Companies registered:
• —
◼ Main issues:
• High speed line
• Signalling & ETCS
Rolling stock:
◼ Authorized vehicles:
• Electric vehicles
• Autonomous vehicles
• Emu
• Dmu
• Railway cars
• Freight wagons
• Others
◼ Suppliers:
• History of the industry
• Industry today
Passenger services:
◼ Incumbent:
• SNCF
• National traffic yesterday
• Regionalisation / TER
• TGV, Inoui, Ouigo
• RER in Paris
• RER in other cities
• Crossborder traffic
◼ international trafic :
• Traffic organisation
◼ Stations:
• 2,800
• History & Heritage
◼ Flow analysis:
• Main lines / local lines
• Modal shares & Economy
Freight services
◼ Industry sectors:
• Steel
• Chemical
• Intermodal
• Wood / Paper
• Others
◼ Operators:
• Fret SNCF
• Others
◼ French operations abroad:
• …
◼ Infrastructure :
• little freight stations
• Marshalling yards
• Main north-south routes
• Ports
◼ Flow analysis:
• Main freight lines
• Modal share & Economy