(1888PressRelease)
October 09, 2009 - The sector’s strength can be explained by the gradual opening up of rail transport to competition since 2005, in accordance with European Union legislation.
Eco-friendly rail transport has a key role to play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and the transport component of France’s Green New Deal has set a target to increase the share of non-road freight from 14% to 25% by 2020.
Passenger and freight rail operators have transferred some of their activities to industrial sub-contractors. These include the maintenance of stock (locomotives and rolling stock) and fixed installations (signals, points and electricity supply), track laying and the construction of railway stations. This sub-contracting industry employs around 100,000 people in France, equivalent to two-thirds of all those directly employed by the rail sector.
The French rail sector is extremely open to international investment. Multinational manufacturers of rolling stock (Siemens, Bombardier France, Alstom Transport, CAF and ADD-Trans) and installations (Faiveley, Thales, Bonatrans, Valdunes, Voith, ABB Secheron, SKF and Knorr-Bremse) offer innovative solutions in compliance with international standards (International Union of Railways – IUR) and the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERMTS), thereby enabling equipment interoperability and cross-border transport. The standardization of manufactured products reduces production, purchasing, running and maintenance costs.
In France, maintenance activities are largely contracted out. Fixed installation maintenance work – laying new track and track/ballast renewal – is carried out by large international track-maintenance and renewal companies. One example is Corus Rail (part of the Tata Steel group of India), which produces metal tracks for permanent or temporary modular platforms, as well as rail dampers that fix to the track base, and which are sold under the brand name Silent Track™. Corus Rail also supplies rail infrastructure services (engineering, development, design and management of the rail system, and modular systems and technologies).
The responsibility for rolling stock maintenance is shared by operators (SNCF, Deutsche Bahn, etc.) and by manufacturers, who offer equipment plus maintenance packages during the equipment warranty period. Other services are also contracted out, such as ticketing, catering, cleaning, ancillary services and IT.
The i-Trans high-tech cluster in Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardie (in northern France) is responsible for driving research in Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) and fostering innovation for improving interoperability in the passenger and freight rail transport sector. Since 2005, i-Trans has approved 78 innovation and research projects worth a total of €185 million. These include projects being developed by Bombardier (passenger safety) and Compin Interiors (full interior furnishing of passenger carriages and rail vehicle platforms).
According to David Appia, CEO of the Invest in France Agency, “Opening up the rail network to competition has injected new life into the rail sub-contracting market in France, whether it be in construction, maintenance or rail services. This is a decisive factor in attracting foreign investors, who view France as a key springboard for growth in this sector.”
About Invest in France (IFA)
The Invest in France Agency (IFA) promotes and facilitates international investment in France. The IFA network operates worldwide. IFA works in partnership with regional development agencies to offer international investors business opportunities and customized services all over France.
For more information about this press release, please contact Martin Hedges, Director of Communications at the Invest in France Agency in London: mhedges ( @ ) investinfrance dot org
For further information, please go to: www.investinfrance.org
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