SNCF warns of deterioration of the rail network

The company is calling for heavy investment to prevent the rail network from falling apart. Ambition and public money, without which the quality of service and punctuality of trains would be called into question in the short term.

"Without additional investment, the network's sustainability and performance are threatened," reads a document sent by SNCF management to around fifty experts and elected officials to work on the subject. The document was written as part of the "Ambition France Transports" conference on mobility and its financing, which is being held until July. Without public investment, the French rail network will fall into second place. Several billion euros of new resources per year must be found from 2028 onwards to meet the challenge. The sustainability and performance of French rail are at stake.

The network is aging, and if nothing is done, 4,000 kilometers of railway lines are at risk, resulting in a deterioration in service affecting no fewer than 2,000 trains per day. Almost all regions are affected by 2028, and if the government's procrastination continues, some 10,000 kilometers of lines will be affected over the next ten years.

When calculating the amount of work needed, the SNCF is basing its calculations on the sums promised by the state and deems them insufficient. The planned budget is €4.5 billion per year, but do public finances currently allow for it? Nothing could be less certain. This is what worries SNCF management. For them, these €4.5 billion per year are a minimum; more is needed.

Among the solutions discussed, the group suggests leveraging motorway concessions, in particular by leveraging heavy goods vehicles and trucks, from which a billion euros could be generated. The idea is to tax polluting means of transport to finance more virtuous means. But to be truly effective, this must be considered largely at the European level. Fundamentally, this is a matter of investment at a time when SNCF, currently profitable, will have to go into debt to secure its future, and just a few steps away from the departure of CEO Jean-Pierre Farandou, who has reached the retirement age and has no intention of keeping his mouth shut.