Réseau Ferré National (France)

In France, the Réseau Ferré National (RFN) is made up of railroad lines and infrastructure belonging to the French state, and assigned to SNCF Réseau.

The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (SNCF) was responsible for the network from January 1, 1983, when it was set up as an "établissement public à caractère industriel et commercial" (EPIC), until February 13, 1997, on the basis of the network conceded by the State, which had built it up since 1938 from the networks of the former major railway companies. From February 13, 1997, to December 31, 2014, the national rail network belonged to the EPIC Réseau ferré de France (RFF), with maintenance and operation delegated to SNCF. On January 1, 2015, following the demise of RFF, the network became the property of SNCF Réseau, which manages and operates it directly. In 2020, it will become the property of the French State, while remaining entrusted to SNCF Réseau.

By 2018, with over 28,000 km of track in operation and more than 2,800 stops and stations served, France has the second largest network in Europe (behind Germany), as well as the leading network of high-speed lines. Most of the network's traffic (81%) is passenger traffic (1.35 billion people carried, with an average occupancy rate of 45%). However, trains face stiff competition from trucks, roads, and even airplanes. France has developed its high-speed network but has abandoned many small lines and stations, making access to certain services more difficult in rural areas. These short lines are considered unprofitable, due to their high cost for low ridership, as well as their environmental impact when not electrified.

Under old companies
The very first French railroad line, and also the first in continental Europe, was the Saint-Étienne–Andrézieux railway, granted by order of King Louis XVIII to Louis-Antoine Beaunier in 1823 and opened on June 30, 1827. The 18 km line was designed to transport coal from the mines in the Loire coalfield to the river. It opened to passengers on March 1, 1832.

The law on the establishment of major railway lines (also known as the "Railway Charter"), passed on June 11, 1842, defined the French railroad system, creating a model of public-private partnership. The State became the owner of the land on which the lines were to be constructed and financed the construction of the infrastructure (engineering structures and buildings). Use of the line was then granted to private companies, who built the superstructure (tracks and facilities), invested in rolling stock, and enjoyed a monopoly of operation on their lines.

The rail network rapidly expanded throughout the country. The network was built from Paris in the form of a star network, known as the Legrand star.

The Freycinet plan, adopted in 1879, envisaged linking each sub-prefecture to the rail network.

The network reached 3,000 km by 1852, 17,000 km by 1870, and 26,000 km by 1882.

Alsace-Lorraine was annexed to the German Empire in 1871. As a result, its rail network was operated by the Kaiserliche Generaldirektion der Eisenbahnen in Elsaß-Lothringen (Imperial Railways in Alsace-Lorraine - EL). When Alsace-Lorraine returned to France after World War I, this network was operated by the Administration des chemins de fer d'Alsace et de Lorraine, created in 1919 and managed by the State, since the Compagnie des chemins de fer de l'Est, which had operated it before 1871, did not wish to take it over.

By 1914, the French general-interest rail network had reached 39,400 km, rising to 42,000 km at its peak in the late 1920s. Added to this was the voie ferrée d'intérêt local, with a maximum extension in 1928 of 20,921 km of lines, operated directly by the general councils or by various private companies on behalf of the départements. The total represents some 63,000 km of track in mainland France. This local network declined rapidly from the 1930s onwards, with 70 km remaining in 2010.

In 1937, just before the creation of the SNCF, the French rail network was operated by the Compagnie des chemins de fer du Nord (Nord), the Compagnie des chemins de fer de l'Est (Est), the communauté d'intérêt financière, commerciale et technique des Compagnies des chemins de fer de Paris à Orléans and du Midi et du Canal latéral à la Garonne (known as PO-Midi), the Compagnie des chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée (PLM), plus the Syndicats du chemin de fer de Grande Ceinture et de Petite Ceinture and the two national administrations, chemins de fer d'Alsace-Lorraine (AL) and chemins de fer de l'État (État).

Under the SNCF


The Société nationale des chemins de fer français was created by agreement on August 31, 1937, between the French government and the various private railway companies of the day: Nord, Est, PO, Midi, PLM, the Grande Ceinture and Petite Ceinture railway unions, and the national administrations of the Alsace and Lorraine railways and the state railways. On January 1, 1938, the operation of the lines of these former companies, unions, and administrations was transferred to the new SNCF, while the former railway companies remained owners of their own private domain.

At the time of its creation, the SNCF was a semi-public company, operating a network of 42,500 km of track (8% of which was electrified) and organized around five regions: East, North, West, South-East and South-West. These regions correspond to the networks of the former companies, with the Alsace-Lorraine network integrated into the East region. The SNCF also operates the lines conceded by the Société royale grand-ducale des chemins de fer Guillaume-Luxembourg (GL), which were previously operated by the Administration des chemins de fer d'Alsace et de Lorraine.

The creation of the SNCF was accompanied by the strengthening of the rail-road coordination policy initiated in 1934, which led to a major program of line closures. By the end of 1939, 9,546 km were closed to passenger service, most of them in 1938 and 1939. The vast majority, however, continued to be used for freight services, pending the generally later closure to all traffic. Passenger and freight closures continued from the 1950s onwards, reaching a total of over 17,000 km of lines closed to all traffic in 2011.

After the second German annexation of Alsace-Lorraine, the Deutsche Reichsbahn managed the Alsace-Moselle and Guillaume-Luxembourg rail networks during World War II, from July 1, 1940, until the Liberation (from September 1944).

The sixth region, Méditerranée, was created in 1947.

France's first high-speed line, the LGV Sud-Est, was inaugurated on September 22, 1981.

On January 1, 1983, SNCF became an Établissement Public à Caractère Industriel et Commercial (EPIC).

The creation of RFF
Réseau ferré de France (RFF) was created on February 13, 1997, as a split-off from SNCF.

The aim was to separate two distinct activities: railway infrastructure management on the one hand, and the organization of transport services on the other. It was a response to European directives aimed at creating a supranational railway area. It had two consequences: by taking over infrastructure-related debts, RFF reduced SNCF's debt, and by managing only the infrastructure, it allowed the network to be opened up to other operators without any risk of conflict of interest.

However, while RFF became the owner of the network, Infra, the network maintenance and operations department, remained with SNCF. This allowed RFF to call on third-party companies when they are less expensive.

Ownership of the "public railway domain" was transferred for the most part to Réseau ferré de France when it was created in 1997: 30,000 kilometers of lines in service and 108,000 hectares spread over more than 10,000 communes. The SNCF, for its part, retained ownership of the "industrial tracks" (equipment maintenance workshops, depots, goods halls, etc.) as well as commercial and administrative buildings (notably passenger station buildings), covering a total of 7,000 hectares. Certain areas, proportionally very limited but quantitatively not insignificant, remained disputed for a long time before the French government imposed external arbitration between 2005 and 2006.

Between February 13, 1997, and December 31, 2014, Réseau ferré de France owned and managed the national rail network, with Société nationale des chemins de fer français (SNCF) as delegated manager (as defined by Decree 2002–1359), which in practice consists of all rail infrastructure: tracks, platforms, signal boxes; the passenger buildings in stations, as well as several hundred service tracks for parking rolling stock, are still owned by SNCF.

Reuniting RFF and SNCF
A new reform of the rail system was adopted by the Senate and National Assembly in 2014. It provides for the reunification of SNCF and RFF into a single entity on January 1, 2015. A new organization was set to be put in place. The SNCF will be structured around three EPICs: the head company SNCF, the infrastructure manager SNCF Réseau, and SNCF Mobilités, responsible for train operations.

RFF ceased to exist on December 31, 2014, and the new SNCF organization took effect on January 1, 2015.

The SNCF (through SNCF Réseau and SNCF Mobilités) then became the owner of the national rail network and all railway stations and infrastructure, as well as the owner, manager, and operator of the network.

The 2015 law on the new territorial organization of the Republic (NOTRe) gives regions and inter-municipalities the opportunity to become owners of capillary freight lines on the national rail network. Capillary freight lines represent around 3,000 km of track (or 10% of the RFN).

Two new high-speed lines went into service on July 2, 2017: the LGV Bretagne-Pays de la Loire and the LGV Sud Europe Atlantique, the latter financed by a public-private partnership. At the inauguration of the LGV Bretagne-Pays de la Loire, President Emmanuel Macron declared: "the promise I want us to keep together for the years to come is this: (...) not to relaunch major new projects, but to commit to financing infrastructure renewal".

Article 9 of Ordinance no. 2019-552 of June 3, 2019, containing various provisions relating to the SNCF group, assigns ownership of the national rail network to the State, while declaring SNCF Réseau, which will become a public limited company in January 2020, to be responsible for this network.

Line closure
After an initial wave of closures, essentially limited to passenger services in 1938 and 1939, as a result of transport coordination measures, closures resumed after World War II, extending to lines still open to freight traffic. Already reduced from 42,000 kilometers in 1937 to around 28,000 kilometers in the 21st century, the national rail network could lose a further 9,000 kilometers of lines (i.e. almost a third of the remaining network) in the coming years. Indeed, this is what is recommended by the "Spinetta" report published on February 15, 2018. However, when presenting the reform of the public company, the Prime Minister guaranteed that the Spinetta report would not be followed on this point.

Overview
The French State is the owner and SNCF Réseau the operator of rail lines and infrastructure in France, with the exception of:


 * certain sections of the Île-de-France regional express network (RER) operated by the Régie autonome des transports parisiens (RATP), i.e. line A-except for the SNCF branches from Nanterre-Préfecture to Poissy and Cergy-le-Haut-and line B south of Gare du Nord;
 * certain lines with passenger services still operated by local railroads: Chemins de fer de la Corse, the line from Nice to Digne;
 * a few local lines only served by freight trains: in Bouches-du-Rhône (Pas-des-Lanciers-La Mède line), in Hérault (Colombiers-Cazouls-les-Béziers line), in Auvergne (Livradois-Forez line);
 * certain concession lines: Channel Tunnel, LGV Perpignan-Figueras;
 * the French section of the Luxembourg line from Bettembourg to Volmerange-les-Mines via Dudelange-Usines (linked only to the Luxembourg rail network);
 * port rail networks (RFP);
 * private industrial networks;
 * several hundred private sidings (also known as branch terminals) serving shippers (factories, warehouses, etc.);
 * most tourist railways and vélorails;
 * overseas lines;
 * tramway and metro lines, managed by the public transport authorities of each city or conurbation;
 * disused passenger buildings, flagman posts, and signal boxes, sold to private individuals.

According to Danielle Brulebois, LREM MP and member of the board of the Établissement public de sécurité ferroviaire, the French rail network is suffering from "30 to 40 years of underinvestment".

Consistency
By the year 2022, the national rail network, owned by SNCF Réseau, includes around 28,000 km of lines in service, of which around 24,000 km are open to passenger service, with the remaining lines limited to freight service. It includes 2,700 km of high-speed lines, 1,576 tunnels for a total length of 656 km, 26,733 bridges and viaducts, 1,201 overhead walkways, 2,200 signal boxes, including 1,250 electric ones, and 15,000 level crossings.

The highest point on the SNCF-owned network is the Bolquère-Eyne station in the Pyrénées-Orientales region, at an altitude of 1,593 m: it is served by TER Occitanie trains on the Cerdagne line.

Some 15,000 trains run on the national rail network every day.

It is the second longest rail network in the European Union, behind the DB Netz network in Germany.

In 2013, 3,029 SNCF stations were open to passengers (including Monaco). By 2022, some 2,850 stations or stops will serve the passenger network.

Nearly 1,400 private branches are connected to the national rail network, and more than 300 stations have freight yards.

The network comprises 15,687 km of electrified lines, of which 5,863 km, mainly south of Paris, are direct current at 1,500 volts. The rest of the network uses alternating current at 25,000 volts.

Track gauge is 1,435 mm (standard track). However, three lines belonging to the national rail network are metre-gauge: the Chemin de fer du Blanc-Argent, the Saint-Gervais–Vallorcine railway (frontier) and the Cerdagne line.

Trains run on the left-hand side of the national rail network's double-track lines, except in the departments of Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin and Moselle, where they run on the right-hand side (with the exception of a few sections of line linking Alsace-Moselle to the rest of the national network, such as between Mulhouse and Territoire de Belfort, or on the LGV Est high-speed line). As these three departments were annexed by Germany in 1871, the standards in force on the German rail network were maintained after Alsace-Moselle was returned to France in November 1918.

French rail signalling uses several systems: on high-speed lines, it is on board, based on the TVM 300 and 430 systems. On other lines, signalling is by trackside light signals (absolute, automatic, BAPR). On a few lightly used lines, mechanical signalling is still used, or the single-track simplified signalling system (VUSS). Finally, some capillary freight lines are operated under a single track with a restricted traffic (VUTR) system. Speed is controlled by the KVB system. With the standardization of rail signalling in Europe, high-speed lines and certain major freight routes are also equipped with ERTMS signalling.

Some 15,000 km of lines are equipped with the Global System for Mobile Communications – Railway (GSM-R).

Corsica's railroads are owned by the Corsican local authority, not the State. Corsican lines do, however, have an official number, as they were operated by SNCF from 1983 to 2011. Other local lines operated by the SNCF have also been assigned numbers, such as the Chemin de fer de l'Est de Lyon line or the Colombiers to Cazouls-lès-Béziers line, although they do not belong to the national rail network.

Some lines carry an official number, but are no longer part of the national rail network; they may have been decommissioned, but are still operated for tourist traffic, or transferred to third parties (local authorities, chambers of commerce and industry, autonomous ports).

Finally, the military rail network comprises 2,000 km of track.

Delegated operations
Some lines, although part of the national rail network, are operated under a leasing contract. This is notably the case for the following lines:


 * Guingamp to Paimpol;
 * Guingamp to Carhaix.

Line classification
According to the classification of the International Union of Railways (UIC, French: Union internationale des chemins de fer), the lines of the national network are divided into nine categories, according to the importance of traffic. Today, the first six categories-the most important ones, covering high-speed lines, electrified main lines, and the Ile-de-France network, i.e. almost 90% of traffic-are regularly maintained and modernized. The last three, covering a total of 15,000 kilometers, are maintained when essential, and in the meantime are subject to more or less extensive speed restrictions. Regional services, which are more numerous and have greatly renewed rolling stock, are sometimes hampered by this state of affairs. It should not be forgotten, however, that RFF inherited a large part of SNCF's debt, which had a significant impact on its financing capacity.

Speed limits and performance
The network is divided into six speed limits. These speeds, which meet the various needs of rail transport, from local service to very high speed, are divided as follows:


 * 1) 1-100 km/h
 * 2) 101-120 km/h
 * 3) 121-140 km/h
 * 4) 141-160 km/h
 * 5) 161-200 km/h
 * 6) 201-350 km/h

Economic liberalization
In rail transport, opening up to external competition-or liberalization-commonly refers to the possibility for different companies to offer their transport services to customers. In Europe, rail network management is recognized as a natural monopoly, and rail network facilities as an essential infrastructure to which rail companies must have access.

Without opening up the network to several transport companies, there could be no competition between them. The institutional separation of the railway infrastructure manager (French: RFF) from the original railway company (SNCF) was intended to reinforce equality between railway companies and make competition more effective.

Beyond the general aspects of opening up rail transport in France to competition, the opening up of the network is characterized by:


 * the publication of a document de référence du réseau (network reference document), setting out in particular the terms of access to the network and the scale of charges for its use;
 * the reception, processing, and response to requests for train paths from the various railway companies, according to a single, non-discriminatory process;
 * informing railway companies about their operations (timetable changes, incidents, etc.);
 * the development of services offered by RFF to railway companies, according to their specific needs. Various types of contracts have been signed between RFF and different customers (framework agreements, conventions, etc.).

History
Law no. 97-135 of February 13, 1997, on the creation of the public establishment Réseau ferré de France with a view to the renewal of rail transport, specifies that "the consistency and main characteristics of this network are set by the State, under the conditions laid down in article 14 of law no. 82-1153 of December 30th, 1982 on the orientation of domestic transport". (LOTI).

The definition and scope of the national rail network were set out in Decrees 97-444 and 97-445 of May 5, 1997. Article 1 of decree no. 97-445 of May 5, 1997, concerning the initial assets of the public establishment Réseau ferré de France, specifies that "the assets transferred in full ownership to Réseau ferré de France, hereinafter referred to as RFF, in accordance with article 5 of the aforementioned law of February 13th, 1997, are divided into four categories, which are listed in the appendix to this decree". These four categories correspond respectively to track, telecommunications facilities, buildings and installations, and other assets.

Code des transports
Article L.2111-1 of the French Transport Code states: "The composition and main characteristics of the national rail network are laid down by regulation (...). The SNCF Réseau company is responsible for the lines of the national rail network, which are the property of the State". Railroad lines are part of the State's real estate public domain.

Decree 97-444
Article 2 of "Decree no. 97-444 of May 5th, 1997 concerning the missions of SNCF Réseau" states that "the composition of the national rail network is set by decree. (...) The list of lines on the national rail network is kept up to date by Réseau ferré de France (now SNCF Réseau). The lines or sections of lines to which railway companies have access are specified in the national rail network reference document provided for in article 17 of decree no. 2003-194 of March 7th, 2003, as amended, on the use of the national rail network."

Decree 2002-1359
The RFN was defined in "Decree 2002-1359 of November 13th, 2002 stipulating the composition of the national rail network". According to art. 1 of the decree, it includes:


 * lines conceded by the State to SNCF before December 31, 1982, and not removed from the RFN;
 * lines for which a DUP has been issued since January 1, 1983, and which are operated by SNCF or RFF;
 * lines incorporated into the RFN and not removed from it;
 * lines known as "main branch lines".

Article 2 of this text specifies that "the list of lines or sections of lines making up the national rail network is appended to the decree provided for in the third paragraph of article 2 of the aforementioned decree of May 5th, 1997" (decree 97-444).

Decree 2003-194
Decree no. 2003-194 of March 7, 2003 relatif à l'utilisation du réseau ferré national, introduced the concept of a national rail network reference document, which contains all the information required to exercise access rights to the national rail network. It was drawn up by Réseau ferré de France (now SNCF Réseau).

The reference document includes, in particular, a presentation of the structure and characteristics of the infrastructure.

Ministerial decrees
Several ministerial decrees have been issued in succession to define the basic sections of the national rail network and the list of stations for which station-stop reservation fees are payable, most recently on December 4, 2006. To consult the annexed list, readers are referred to the Ministry of Ecological Transition website, which in turn refers to the network reference document on the SNCF Réseau website.

Open for traffic
A line is open (in whole or in part) when it gives rise to a user charge for rail traffic. The list is updated in the network reference document. It can be used by both passenger and freight trains. Some lines are used solely for passenger traffic, while others are used solely for freight.

Neutralized
A line is neutralized (in whole or in part) when its access is blocked by physical means (crossbeams, bolts blocking the access needle), but can be reopened after technical safeguards have been taken.

Closed
A line is closed (in whole or in part) when the Board of Directors of SNCF Réseau has decided to close it, after having submitted its project to the Regional Council responsible for organizing regional passenger rail transport (in accordance with article 22 of decree no. 97-444), and for which the Minister of Transport has expressed no opposition. The line may be closed and the track kept in place, either for national defense purposes, or to make it available to a third party (cyclo-draisine, tourist railway, community), or at the request of the Minister for subsequent use.

Cut-off
A line is cut off (in whole or in part) when the Board of Directors of Réseau ferré de France has decided to do so. Introduced when RFF was created in 1997, line cutting no longer exists since the publication of decree no. 2006-1517 of December 4, 2006. During this period, the cutting off of a line meant its removal from the national rail network.

While the possibility of line cutting no longer exists, lines cut between 1997 and 2006 without any subsequent change in status are still covered by this status.

Decommissioned
A line is decommissioned (in whole or in part) when SNCF Réseau has decided to decommission it, following authorization to close the line without maintaining it. SNCF Réseau may decommission a line:


 * unilaterally within five years of the closure authorization (article 4 of decree no. 2019–1516 on the rules governing the management of public property applicable to SNCF Réseau);
 * after authorization by the Minister of Transport beyond five years following authorization of closure (article 3 of decree n°2019-1516).

When a line is decommissioned, it passes from the public domain to the private domain (in any case, it is no longer part of the national rail network). Once the line has been decommissioned, SNCF Réseau can sell the land.

Some decommissioned lines can still be operated (tourist trains or even regular freight or passenger services).

In planning
A planned non-concessioned line is assigned a line number at the latest when the declaration of public utility is pronounced, in order to identify and reference all documents.

Filed
This is not a status of the line, but a state of the line, referring to the presence or absence of the track. A line can be deposited when it is closed or decommissioned.

Eastern Region
Legend: (1) Line in operation; (2) Line neutralized; (3) Line closed; (4) Line decommissioned; (5) Line cut-off; (6) Line filed; (7) Line in planning (situation as of July 24, 2019).

Northern Region
Legend: (1) Line in operation; (2) Line neutralized; (3) Line closed; (4) Line decommissioned; (5) Line cut-off; (6) Line filed; (7) Line in planning (situation as of July 24, 2019).

Western Region
Legend: (1) Line in operation; (2) Line neutralized; (3) Line closed; (4) Line decommissioned; (5) Line cut-off; (6) Line filed; (7) Line in planning (situation as of July 24, 2019).

Southwest Region
Legend: (1) Line in operation; (2) Line neutralized; (3) Line closed; (4) Line decommissioned; (5) Line cut-off; (6) Line filed; (7) Line in planning (situation as of July 24, 2019).

Southeast region
Legend: (1) Line in operation; (2) Line neutralized; (3) Line closed; (4) Line decommissioned; (5) Line cut-off; (6) Line filed; (7) Line in planning (situation as of July 24, 2019).

Île-de-France
Legend: (1) Line in operation; (2) Line neutralized; (3) Line closed; (4) Line decommissioned; (5) Line cut-off; (6) Line filed; (7) Line in planning (situation as of July 24, 2019).

Corsica Lines
The three lines in Corsica are not part of the Réseau Ferré National. The two lines with passenger services still in operation are managed by Chemins de fer de la Corse, the infrastructure being the property of the Collectivité de Corse. Numbers for these lines were created in the RFN nomenclature for IT purposes, when they were operated by SNCF (from 1983 to 2012).

Related articles

 * List of railway lines in France
 * fr:Lignes ferroviaires françaises désaffectées ou disparues
 * fr:Numérotation des lignes de chemin de fer de la région Est
 * Railway electrification in France
 * Béziers to Neussargues Railway