La Vie du Rail

La Vie du Rail (Railway Life) is a French publishing group headquartered in Auray, which specialises in magazines and books about rail transport, and transport more generally. The editor-in-chief is Vincent Lalu.

It was started in 1952 as an in-house publication of the SNCF, taking over the role played by Notre Métier ("Our trade") since 1938. In 1965 it became a weekly paid-for magazine independent of the SNCF, which retains a minority share in the company. The name then passed to the special-interest publishing house.

Titles
Since 2002, so as to diversify its customer base, la Vie du Rail has split its coverage and publishes:
 * La Vie du Rail magazine, generalist weekly centring on rail transport with an average circulation of over 100,000.
 * Ville, rail & transports ("Town, rail & transport"): Initially weekly and titled Rail & Transport, it was then published every two weeks as Ville & transports magazine. In 2009 it merged with La Vie du rail international. It is aimed at those working in the transport sector.
 * Historail, quarterly, specialising in rail history.
 * Rail Passion, approximately 100-page monthly with an average circulation of 40,000 copies.

Commercial structure
Shares in the company are split between:
 * Vincent Lalu et Associés, 71%
 * SNCF, 10%
 * Société du personnel de La Vie du Rail, 5%
 * Groupe La Vie-Le Monde, 5%
 * Groupe Ouest-France, 5%
 * Mutuelle d'assurance des artisans de France, 4%.