SNCF run high-speed railway in France

New Delhi, 15 February 2013

Ministry of Railways, Government of India and the Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français (SNCF), the French National Railways have decided to carry out jointly an ‘operations and development’ feasibility project on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail. This project will be funded by SNCF with a support from the French Ministry of Finance.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed in New Delhi yesterday between both parties by Shri Vinay Mittal, Chairman, Railway Board, from Indian side and Mr G.Pepy, Chairman and CEO SNCF from the French side for technical cooperation in the field of Railways in the presence of H.E. Francois Hollande, the President of France.

Four areas of cooperation have been identified in the MoU. These are:

1. High speed and semi-high speed rail;
2. Station renovation and operations;
3. Modernisation of current operations and infrastructure;
4. Suburban trains.

The MoU is valid for a period of 5 years and is extendable by 1 year with mutual consent. Specific cooperation projects would be undertaken under the MoU as agreed by both the parties.

The French delegation led by SNCF Chairman Mr G. Pepy is visiting Central Railway and Western Railway installations in Mumbai today i.e. 15.2.2013 and holding meetings with the Railway officials.

It should be mentioned here that the 492-km-long Mumbai-Ahmedabad rail route is going to have the first bullet train as the proposed high-speed rail corridor got the green signal in a high level meeting presided by the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh last year. The project is estimated to cost Rs 60,000 crore.

A consultant appointed in April 2009 had submitted the final report of Pre-feasibility studies for High Speed Rail Corridor (Pune – Mumbai – Ahmedabad) in year 2010.

About SNCF

The SNCF (Société Nationale des Chemins de fer français; “French National Railway Corporation”) is France’s national state-owned railway company. The SNCF employs more than 180,000 people in 120 countries across the globe. The railway network includes 1,800 km (1,100 mi)high-speed lines and daily operation of 14,000 trains.

As per Wikipedia: TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse, meaning “High-Speed Train”) in SNCF’s high speed train service. In the 1970s, the SNCF began the TGV high-speed train programme which to fruition in 1981, when the first TGV service, from Paris to Lyon, was inaugurated. Today, the SNCF operates 1,850 km (about 1,150 miles) of designated high-speed track that accommodate more than 800 high-speed services per day. The SNCF’s TGV trains carry more than 100 million passengers a year. TGV lines and TGV technology are now spread across several European countries in addition to South Korea.

In the past the SNCF also owned the tracks, but this has changed due to EU Directive. Since 1997 the tracks and signalling have belonged to a separate government body, Réseau Ferré de France; this change was intended to open the market to independent train operating companies, although few have yet appeared. RFF contracts all track maintenance and the operation of signalling to the SNCF, which also retains ownership of all the stations.

The SNCF’s TGV has set many world speed records, the most recent on 3 April 2007, when a new version of the TGV dubbed the V150 with larger wheels than the usual TGV, was able to cover more ground with each rotation and had a stronger 25,000 hp (18,600 kW) engine, and broke the world speed record for conventional railway trains, reaching 574.8 km/h (357.2 mph).

The SNCF has a remarkable safety record. After nearly 30 years in operation, SNCF’s TGV system has never experienced a fatal accident.