A strong performance in the domestic rail market helped SNCF Group achieve robust results for 2023. Group turnover for the year was €41.8 billion, a small increase of 0.7% on turnover of €41.5 billion in 2022. All sectors made a gross profit/EBITDA (Earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortisation), that across the Group was 15.4% at €6.4 billion. This was slightly less than the previous year, due in part to industrial action, although free cash has nearly doubled from €1.3 to €2.5 billion. Net profit was €1.3 billion; this will be invested back into the network. Group debt fell slightly from €24.4 to €24.2 billion. 

Turnover for SNCF's French rail operations increased by 5.4%. All sectors of the domestic rail market saw increases in passenger numbers (TER 7%, Transilien 6%, Intercités 5%, domestic TGV 4% and cross-border TGV 6%), with SNCF Voyageurs increasing turnover by 10% from €17.4 to €19.2 billion. SNCF Réseau saw turnover increase by 6% from €7.2 to €7.6 billion and SNCF Gares et Connexions by 9% from €1.7 to €1.9 billion. The Group's rail freight sector Rail Logistics Europe (RLE) saw turnover 0.5% down at €1.7 billion, due in part to industrial action over pension reform and closure of the Maurienne route in August. As reported elsewhere, RLE has transferred some traffic to other operators and will be restructured in 2025 to meet the economic discontinuance of Fret SNCF agreed with the EU following uncompetitive subsidies. 

Of the Group’s two 'arms length' companies, worldwide urban transport operator Keolis saw turnover increase by 7% from €6.7 to €7.0 billion. Following three years of continuous growth logistics and shipping company Geodis saw turnover fall by 21.6% from €13.7 to €11.6 billion. This was due to a reduction in freight rates and the slowdown in the global economy. Despite this, both companies contributed to Group EBITDA: Keolis at €537 million and Geodis at €1.12 billion, equivalent to 9.6% of turnover, a high level of profitability given difficult trading conditions. 

Investments in the railway system during the year reached an historic level at €10.6 billion, of which 97% went into the French economy. One-third was financed by the Group; with the balance coming from the State, Régions and communities. During the year, SNCF recruited 25,300 new employees of which 17,300 are in permanent positions, with 8,200 staff studying for qualifications. During the year €570 million was invested in training, equivalent to 8% of the wage bill. Between 2021 and 2024 average pay has increased by 17% with starting pay up 21%, inflation over the same period has been 13%. Women now make up 30% of railway management. 

Despite an increased level of rail traffic, emissions during the year were down by 8% and electricity consumption by 7%. SNCF plans to reduce its water consumption by 10% over the next two years. Creation of a new subsidiary SNCF Renouvelables should see between 15% and 20% of electricity produced by solar panels located on SNCF land by 2030. This is the third year since the major restructuring, and with the strategies adopted by the Board SNCF is achieving its objectives of providing sustainable and profitable mobility.

BB 22335 approaches Saint-Mathurin-sur-Loire with Ouigo Classique Train 4089 13.04 Paris Austerlitz – Nantes via Saumur on the 15th October 2023. This is the more southerly of the two route used by the Paris – Nantes Ouigo Classique services.

A cross-border service linking Brussels and Paris will be introduced in the summer for the Olympics, operated by SNCB with hauled stock. Between 24th July and 11th August two services will operate in each direction. Departing Brussels Midi at 7.02 and 12.38 and Paris Gare du Nord at 12.30 and 18.48 (weekend times vary), journey time will be 3h during the week and 4h at weekends (due to engineering work). The only intermediate stop will be at Mons. 

From 4th March, a spare locomotive has been stationed at Nevers, and is manned in the evenings. (This is understood to be a BB 22200 released from Paris – Maubeuge duties by delivery of Régio 2Ns). At 18.00 it is scheduled to follow train 5978 (16:30 Clermont Ferrand – Paris) to Cosne-sur-Loire where it waits for the penultimate Paris – Clermont Ferrand services in each direction to pass. and then returns to Nevers where it is manned until the final train in each direction has passed through the the Montargis – Nevers section. During 2024 the existing locomotive fleet will be equipped with additional detectors and diagnostic equipment to point-up faults. All drivers will be trained for the alternative route via Saincaize and Vierzon to facilitate diversions if the normal route is blocked. From September, a mobile repair team will be based at Nevers to respond to problems, enabling locomotives to proceed if possible albeit at reduced speed. The spare locomotives will also be crewed for a longer period increasing its capacity to respond to incidents. 

Some 60% of incidents with delays of more than three hours are caused by external factors such as fallen trees or collisions with animals. The SNCF Réseau budget for wildlife and vegetation control is increasing from €4.7 million in 2020 to €7.1million in 2024. A wider band of lineside clearance will be adopted along with improved fencing and animal intrusion devices. An agreement with the Nièvre Hunting Federation was signed at the end of March.

A new remote monitoring system will be introduced on the Nevers – Saint-Germain-des-Fossés section to better prevent signalling incidents. Two new self-propelled road-rail vehicles with nacelles have been ordered to improve response to catenary problems; these will enter service in the summer.

A number of other initiatives have been put in place to shorten response time in the event of delays. From March, incidents on the line are now managed by the central SNCF Crisis Centre. Agreements have also been put in place with all the civil services along the route to improve response when incidents occur.

According to an article in Le Parisien, SNCF is considering cutting some TGVs, a measure that crops up from time-to-time in the wake of a 2015 report from the Court of Auditors which suggested TGV profitability was endangered by serving too many destinations off the core LGV network. Now the prospect of competition from Le Train, Kevin Speed and others, together with expansion of RENFE and Trenitalia high-speed services in France, has necessitated a close look at profitability, with the principle that core routes subsidise through trains to destinations away from the high-speed network again coming under review. 

Apart from reducing frequency or withdrawing trains, the option was reportedly considered of seeking payments from city and regional authorities to maintain service levels, a proposal that has angered those which contributed to the construction costs of high-speed lines or which already subsidise TGV services, as do Bretagne and Hauts-de-France. In Bretagne’s case, the subsidy enables TER passholders with ‘TGV Option’ to travel between local stations served by TGVs.

Rouen’s cross-city service was planned well before President Macron’s 2022 announcement of RERs for regional cities. The 160km network serving 34 stations will comprise three routes utilising existing lines and rights-of-way. It will be fully integrated with the city’s Plan de mobilité 2035, and partly contingent on progress with the proposed Paris – Normandie LGV (LNPN).

The evening of Friday 1st March saw Infra BB 69480 operating on RER Line C with a SIM track measurement vehicle, seen above passing through Javel with Train 104774  Invalides – Versailles-Château-Rive-Gauche. Photo: Erwan Quintin.

Upgrading of Orléans – Vierzon under the POLT programme begun in 2023 and extending through to 2027 is concentrated this year on the 24km between Les Aubrais and La-Ferté-Saint-Aubin, and Lamotte-Beuvron to Salbris (19km). A BOA factory train is replacing 36.5 track-km working overnight until 24th May. At Vierzon itself, the €162 million project to install digital signalling took another step forward on 20th March when construction began on the new control centre; six manual signalboxes will be decommissioned by 2027.

Gare du Nord. Work is underway to replace 43 life-expired points and crossings on the approaches to Gare du Nord in Paris. Some 300 personnel are working weekday nights and at weekends to minimise disruption at Europe’s busiest station. The 44-week programme will be paused during the Olympic Games.

Andelot. Fifteen weeks’ upgrading work started on 26th February between Andelot-en-Montagne and Les Longuevilles on the single track from Dole to Vallorbe, replacing 2.5km of rail, 1,000 sleepers and nine points, plus reballasting. The €6 million project will be carried out almost entirely at night. 

Train Jaune. Engineering work is taking place from 26th February to 26th April. Substations at Bourg-Madame and Saint-Léocadie are being upgraded, three tunnels partially relined, revetments strengthened between Olette and Mont Louis, and some track renewed. With the railway closed, bus 560 from Latour-de-Carol to Prades is supplemented by two additional Sunday-only services. This year’s work is costed at €7.6 million. 

Grand Est to buy 15 lines. Grand Est région plans to buy from SNCF Réseau 15 secondary lines out of the 21 where services will be put out to tender. The motivation is that if service improvements from competitive tendering are to achieve their potential, then the lines need significant investment to address maintenance arrears, replace obsolete signalling and modernise station facilities. The lines selected are those where there is the greatest need for maintenance and the best opportunity to improve services. The first lines already confirmed and agreed with the EU extend to 150km: Strasbourg – Sélestat and Strasbourg – Molsheim – Épinal, plus Nancy – Contrexéville which will reopen in 2027 with a new operator to be announced shortly. Other lines include the Strasbourg – Lauterbourg and Mulhouse – Müllheim cross-border routes. Grand Est has budgeted €300 million for the initial purchases, the cost rising to over €1 billion for all 15 lines.

On the southern section, a total of 31km of track has been renewed at a number of sites where speed had been limited to 40 km/h since 2017; the Cher bridge at Montluçon has been renovated and given anti-corrosion treatment. Yet to be completed is resignalling of the passing loop at Vallon and some minor track and point work at Montluçon, this to be carried out at night between July and the end of September. 

Seven train pairs a day will run from 7th July, a big improvement on the previous three, expected to be operated by Class X 73500 single cars, with most extended from Lamballe to Saint-Brieuc. Stations have 90m platforms to accommodate three cars in multiple.

Also observed that day were BB 7297 (Train 4655 06.20 Bordeaux – Marseille), BB 7293 (Train 4758 09.29 Marseille – Bordeaux), and BB 7258 on Train 4663 14.20 Bordeaux – Marseille.

On 1st March, 200 supporters of Railcoop reached Lyon on their citizens’ relay to raise awareness of the proposed Bordeaux – Lyon rail service. Having left Bordeaux on 18th February, some members had walked or cycled the complete route. Placed in administration by the Commercial Court in October, Railcoop has until mid-April to raise sufficient capital to continue. Although having nearly 15,000 individual and corporate members, it has been unable to raise sufficient capital to launch the service. Recent press reports suggest they may consider selling the two X72500 units that they own.

While there is some interest from socially-inclined lenders, the cooperative structure of 'one member one vote' is a problem for major lenders who would want to exercise a degree of control proportionate to their investment. But many members are opposed to investors with expectations of profitability not consistent with their social values. One proposal has been a modified governance structure with the cooperative operating the trains but the investment capital and ticket revenue vested in joint stock companies. Another potential lender, the European Investment Bank, is only interested in new rolling stock, not the former SNCF X 72500s introduced in 1999 and withdrawn in 2020 that Railcoop had intended buying from AURA région and overhauling.

There is also concern about the perceived management naivety at Railcoop, having sunk a large amount of capital into the unprofitable freight service between Viviez-Decazeville and Toulouse rather than focussing on the principal objective of the Bordeaux – Lyon passenger service. One aim of the citizens’ relay was to highlight the lack of interest by Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Nouvelle-Aquitaine régions. Studies have suggested that 70% of demand across the route is for intermediate travel within individual regions, with very little demand for the end-to-end journey, especially one taking 7h. 

Railcoop had planned to start the Bordeaux – Lyon service in summer 2024, but has now said it may have to be deferred until November, due to planned engineering work in September and October. In reality, 2025 or 2026 would seem to be more realistic, assuming the business is not wound up by the Commercial Court before then.

Update: On the 27th March Railcoop wrote to members informing them that liquidation seemed inevitable. This follows a judgement against them in the Clermont Ferrand Commercial Court on 21st March by ACC M relating to storage charges for the two X 72500 units. Railcoop now accept that the Cahors Commercial Court will have no option but to liquidate the cooperative when the case returns to the Court on the 15th April.

Rail services between Toulouse and Mazamet were suspended beyond Lavaur and replaced by buses from 9th March and an emergency timetable introduced until further notice following a number of safety incidents.

The semi-roundhouse at Castres is finally to be demolished. Redundant since 1957 when the lines east of Toulouse were dieselised, it was bought by the local council which could not find a use for it. It is now in poor condition and at risk of collapse. At one time the depot had 500 employees. Two of its allocation, 140 A 908 and 230 B 614, live on at the Cité du Train Mulhouse. 

Opening at the same time is the short northern extension to Saint-Denis-Pleyel, designed to cope with 250,000 passengers daily when GPE Lines 15, 16 and 17 are in full operation. The extensions add eight stations, though that at Villejuif-Gustave Roussy, an interchange with the future Line 15, will not open until December. Ridership is expected to be 1 million daily, with 60 trains in service at peak times operating at 80sec headway under newly-installed Siemens radio-based CBTC. Photos: Sortiraparis/Caroline.