Rail transport in France

History

Main article: History of rail transport in France

In 1814, the French engineer Pierre Michel Moisson-Desroches proposed to the Emperor Napoleon to build seven national railways from Paris, in order to travel "short distances within the Empire".

However, the history of railways in France really begins in 1827, when the first trains operated on the Saint-Etienne to Andrezieux Railway, the first French line, granted by order of King Louis XVIII in 1823.

Operation

Since of 1842, French railways are highly focused on Paris.

Traffic is concentrated on the main lines: 78% of activity is done on 30% of the network (8,900 km), and the 46% of smaller lines (13,600 km) only drive 6% of the traffic. The 366 largest stations (12%) account for 85% of passenger activity, and the smallest 56% of stations take only 1.7% of traffic.

Freight transport

Freight transport has declined since the early 1980s. Today the network is predominantly passenger-centric; railways transport only 9% of French cargo, or about 1/2 of the European average, and less than a fourth of the US railways' share of US cargo.

Since 1 January 2007, the freight market has been open to conform to European Union (EU) agreements (EU Directive 91/440). New operators had already reached 15% of the market at the end of 2008.

Passenger transport

Short and middle distance

The Transport express régional (TER) is directed by the administrative Regions of France. They contract with the SNCF for lines exploitation. Regional rail on the island of Corsica is operated by Chemins de fer de la Corse. Rapid transit is known as Réseau Express Régional (RER), present in Paris (Réseau Express Régional) and planned for Lyon (Réseau Express de l'Aire urbaine Lyonnaise). Commuter rail systems cenetred around the Swiss cities of Geneva (Léman Express) and Basel (Basel S-Bahn), in the Swiss canton of Jura (RER Jura), and in the Ortenau region of Germany (Ortenau Regional S-Bahn) also serve nearby towns in France. Several TER lines also connect to railway stations in neighbouring countries.

Image:Strasbourg_train_2017_5.jpg|French regional train in Strasbourg Image:Z 20500 IDF Mobilités Ligne P.jpg|Regional train at Gare de l'Est, Paris Image:Paris - Gare Saint Lazare (3).JPG|Gare Saint Lazare, Paris Image:Bayeux train station - panoramio.jpg|Bayeux station in the Normandy region

Long distance

The SNCF directly manage this class of trains. The TGV (including TGV ı̣nOui and Ouigo) is used on the most important destinations, both national and international, while Intercités carriages are still used for other lines (Intercités de Nuit for nighttime services). Cross-border services are operated by TGV Lyria to Switzerland, EuroStar to Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, AVE to Spain, and Trenitalia France to Italy.

Network

The French railway network, as administered by SNCF Réseau, as of June 2007, is a network of 29213 km of commercially usable lines, of which 15141 km is electrified. 1876 km of those are high speed lines (LGV), 16445 km have two or more tracks. 5905 km are supplied with 1,500 V DC, 9113 km with 25 kV AC at 50 Hz. 122 km are electrified by third rail or other means.

1,500 V is used in the south; HSR lines and the northern part of the country use 25 kV electrification.

Trains drive on the left, except in Alsace and Moselle where tracks were first constructed while those regions were part of Germany.

Rail links to adjacent countries

• Same gauge
  • Belgium Belgium — voltage change 25 kV AC/3 kV DC (except high-speed line to Brussels, same voltage)
  • Germany Germany — voltage change 25 kV AC/15 kV AC
  • Italy Italy — voltage change 25 kV AC or 1.5 kV DC/3 kV DC
  • Luxembourg Luxembourg — same voltage
  • Monaco Monaco — same voltage
  • Spain Spain via the LGV Perpignan-Figueres — same voltage
  • Switzerland Switzerland — voltage change 25 kV AC or 1.5 kV DC/15 kV AC
  • Great Britain United Kingdom via the Channel Tunnel — voltage change 25 kV AC/750 V DC third rail (except high-speed line to London, same voltage)
• Break-of-gauge, /
  • Spain Spain (on conventional tracks) — voltage change 1.5 kV DC/3 kV DC
• Andorra Andorra — No rail link to France
• No rail links from Saint Martin to Sint Maarten or from French Guiana to Suriname or Brazil

Current status

The French non-TGV intercity service (TET) is in decline, with old infrastructure and trains. The French government is planning to remove the monopoly that rail currently has on long-distance journeys by letting coach operators compete.

Travel to the UK through the Channel Tunnel has grown in recent years, and from May 2015 passengers have been able to travel direct to Marseille, Avignon and Lyon. Eurostar is also introducing new Class 374 trains and refurbishing the current Class 373s.

The International Transport Forum described the current status of the French railways in their paper "Efficiency indicators of Railways in France":

• The success of the TGV is undeniable (Crozet 2013). Work started in September 1975 on the first high-speed rail (HSR) line, between Paris and Lyon, and it was inaugurated in September 1981. New high-speed lines were opened in 1989 (towards the south-west), in 1993 (towards the north), etc. The high-speed network extent was 2,600 km in 2017, after the opening of four new lines.
• The regionalisation of intercity and local services was tested in 1997 and fully deployed in the early 2000s. Since then, TERs (regional express trains) have seen traffic rise steeply (50% between 2000 and 2013) as, to a lesser extent, have services in the Ile de France region (25%).
• Rail freight has been far less successful. The French network carried 55 billion tonne-km in 2001, but this figure scarcely reached 32 billion tonne-km in 2013. This weak performance contrasts sharply with the ambitious public policy of the last fifteen years. The Grenelle Environment Forum (2007–2010) oversaw the deployment of a costly freight plan that was no more effective than its predecessors.

Funding

Like roads, the French railways receive rail subsidies from the state in order to operate. Those amounted to €13.2 billion in 2013.

Rolling stock

Main article: List of SNCF classes

Alstom is the manufacturer of the TGV, and is behind many regional train models (Régiolis, SNCF Class Z 26500 ... )

References

References

1. (2017). "Memento statistiques SNCF Mobilités 2017". SNCF Mobilités.
2. (2017). "Trafic annuel et journalier". Observatoire de la mobilité en Île-de-France (Omnil).
3. (2017). "Memento statistiques SNCF Mobilités 2017". SNCF Mobilités.
4. "Rapport sur la sécurité des tunnels routiers et ferroviaires francais".
5. [http://www.gare-ensemble.fr/IMG/pdf/RAPPORT_KELLER_COMPLET.pdf ''La Gare Contemporaine''] {{webarchive. link. (20 July 2011 p94, Fabienne Keller)
6. (2021). "Length of railroad network in selected countries around the world in 2021". [[Statista]].
7. "Transport – Passenger transport – OECD Data".
8. (8 January 2021). "the 2017 European Railway Performance Index". Boston Consulting Group.
9. [http://www.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/rapport_Rivier.pdf ''Audit sur l'état du réseau national français'' p3] {{Webarchive. link. (15 December 2010 , Robert Rivier & Yves Putallaz, 2005 September 7)
10. [http://www.gares-connexions.com/images/DP/091201_DP_Gares&Connexions.pdf ''Gares et Connexion'']{{Dead link. (September 2023)
11. [http://olegk.free.fr/flux/Flux56_57/pdffl5657/09SensEvenement5657106-111.pdf ''Pourquoi le fret ferroviaire va-t-il si mal en France? Autour du plan Véron (Fret 2006)''] Pierre Zembri 2004
12. (27 July 2020). "L'Etat une énième fois au chevet du fret ferroviaire". [[Les Echos (France)]].
13. Michael Grunwald. (9 July 2012). "Back on Tracks".
14. (3 April 2023). "La libéralisation des transports ferroviaires dans l'Union européenne".
15. link. (5 September 2007)
16. "France's loss-making inter-city services at a crossroads".
17. "Efficiency indicators of Railways in France".